Yugioh GX: The Other Half of the Story
by FaytSeeker
Summary: Kurai Yuki, a duelist who was forced to live in the shadow of someone greater. To reach that duelist's rising fame as a hero, Kurai undergoes a journey set behind the plotholes of the four seasons of Yugioh GX. Episode 21 Part B.
1. 1:The One Who Succeeds Yugi's Other Half

Author's Note: I would like to call it Alternate Universe but it's really not. We had seen the hero of Yugioh GX and 5Ds but who would forget the two heroes in one body of the original Yugioh. Thus I decided to come up with the other half of Yugioh GX hence the title. I hoped to use this story to fill in the plot holes in GX anime. I knew that the supposedly the GX anime took ten years after the original anime but I decided to use five years to use some official characters. I also hoped you will notice lot of things such as the characters' names. All of them are original and some are related to the characters in the anime. Oh yes, I wanted to apologize if there's any terrible mistakes in grammar and English. English is not my strong point.

Author's Note 2: I came to be aware that people will say this is similar to Duelist Twilight. Before there are any claims, here's what happened. As I mentioned in my profile, I hanged around in Jamine's Forum years ago. I posted the same story in the forum instead of here. Lux-Nero decided to create a story influenced by my story and posted Duelist Twilight here in fanfiction. Now we come to today, with the help of Lux-Nero's encouragement, I decided to post the story here and intended to finish it. So please bear with me if the first few chapters are similar in circumstances but I think it's different from there on currently in later chapters. I'm not sure, I haven't read Duelist Twilight yet, lol.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh anime but I do own some cards…some…..barely any…. Also credit goes to Tatsunoboshi Horoko for providing subs of the GX episode.

* * *

Duel Monsters, a game of battle with ferocious monsters and deadly magic, was played in Old Egyptian times and soon lost under the ancient ruins among the dunes of blazing sands. It was lost for many centuries until it was discovered by a man named Pegasus Crawford. It was he that brought forth this game to the world. It was he that made this ancient game into insanely popular card game. It was he that dragged up the never ending battle of Duel Monsters and the Gods that the nameless Pharaoh was destined to finish. The ancient battle was concluded with the help of a meek Japanese boy and his three loyal friends. However, the battle still continued in the hands of duelists all over the world. Kaibacorp, one of the richest companies of the world and creator of duel disks, decided to build an academy for young duelists. They successfully built Duel Academia which became so successful that Kabiacorp decided to build four more Duel Academies at the North, East, South, and West.

Five years had past by since the conclusion of the Pharaoh's battle and duelists of the present were still battling each other. In the city of New York, one of the greatest and the most populated cities of America, people were walking down the streets going to work and minding their own businesses without a single care for the decaying world. However, a young teenager was running through the streets, bumping into numerous businessmen and apologizing quickly. This young teenager was actually a slim average-body sized girl with short medium red maroon hair that nearly reached her neck. It was neatly combed with a bright pink hairclip on the side. She had also bright violet eyes shining with cuteness and naivety. She carried an adorable Hane Kuriboh mini backpack instead of a purse. Her face expressed extreme worries and panic. The girl yelled, "I'm late!"

The girl was breathing hard from long continuous running, "Stupid onee-chan! She should have waked me up early! Eh?" She turned white as she realized. She chuckled nervously, "Oh yeah…she's working in Industrial Illusions in Japan….." she sighed disappointedly as she cursed her strings of bad luck. She didn't wake up in time for the first bus, so she had to catch another bus. But then, that bus broke down, so she ran to the subway where she realized she didn't have the money for the ticket as she left her wallet on her nightstand, so she ran again. She had run numerous miles without transportation, not that it mattered since New York was insanely crowded, so transportation would be slow as her anyway.

Finally, to top things off, she missed her breakfast, her only valuable source of needed energy. Her stomach growled loudly, forcing the poor girl to stop as she couldn't bear the hunger. She noticed the twentieth Starbucks after running past the same shop on every block nineteen times. She smelled the sweet smell of fresh scones and licked her tongue, "Those smell really good…" She quickly remembered her true goal and gritted her teeth, "No…I don't have time to eat and rest! I'm already late!" She broke off in a fast sprint and accidentally bumped into numerous strangers again, "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!"

BAM!

The poor girl crashed into someone and fell on her bottom. She groaned as she rubbed her butt, "Ouch……...Sorry!" She apologized nervously with her eyes closed. The teenage girl slowly opened her violet eyes and stared directly at amber colored eyes of a teenage boy with wild dual colored hair. His interesting hair colors were midnight blue on the top with ice blue at the bottom. He carried a black bag over his broad shoulder. The girl continued to stare at this handsome stranger with a slight blush spread across her face. Their hairs moved gently as the winds of destiny blew through them. It was fate.

…WAIT A MINUTE! THIS IS NOT SHOUJO STORY!

Too bad, it was not love at first sight because as soon as the girl stared at this boy's eyes. The teenager instantly glared at her with an ice cold look. The girl shivered with couple beads of sweat drops behind her head, '_Yikes, talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,_' she then noticed a deck holder on his black belt, 'he's a duelist?' The maroon-haired girl quickly stood up and brushed off the dust off her purple skirt. She quickly bowed, "Sorry about that," She faced him directly, "My name is Kitamori Izumi!"

The dual-hair guy looked at her suspiciously as she was some creepy Barbie doll.

"You're duelist, aren't you?" Izumi pointed to herself, "So am I! Are you going to the exam site of the Kaiba Duel Academy?" She clasped her hands and closed her eyes as sign of embarrassment, "If you are, will you lead me the way? You see, I'm kinda lost… Sorry for asking!" She bowed again, "Please help me!" She heard no response and quickly assumed that the boy was not answering her request. She quickly looked up. She instantly gaped as she watched the guy walking away from her. Izumi fumed, "Fine, I'll find it myself! I hope you lose your duel!" She glanced at her purple watch and paled, "………….I'm lateeeee!" She ran off at the impressive speed of the light.

* * *

Judai was dashing through the park. He yelled, "I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" He quickly turned a corner, "The train just had to be late on my big day of all days!" He then realized, "No," He quickly smiled as adrenaline pumped in his blood, "It's exciting! This is just one of the tests that's been given to me!" He saw the Kaibacorp building up ahead, "Guts! Just you wait, Duel Academia!"

Judai noticed a person walking in front of him. He shouted, "Whoa, watch out!" His warning came too late as he bumped into the person. The dueling disk and his cards came flying out of his backpack as he fell to the ground. He panicked as he quickly turned around to pick up the cards. He quickly apologized to the stranger, "Sorry!" He continued picking up his cards.

The stranger stared at Judai. He asked, "Do you duel?"

The word "duel" caught Judai's attention. He looked back and answered cheerfully, "Yeah, I'm gonna take a test for the Duel Academia."

"Heh." The stranger smiled as he reached for his deck on his belt.

Judai stood up and laughed as he felt overly proud that he's going to take the test for the famous Duel Academia. He then finally noticed the stranger, "Hey, you're…"

The stranger held a single card and interrupted him, "This is a lucky card. It wants to go to you." He handed it over.

"Eh?" Judai blinked in surprise and accepted the gift, "Th-thank you."

"Do your best." The stranger walked past him.

"Um..hai!" Judai looked at him and thanked, "U-um…thank you very much!" He bowed.

The stranger smiled as he gave a thumb's up and walked off.

Judai couldn't help but smiled too. He looked down at his new card given by destiny.

* * *

The American Kaibacorp was one of the tallest buildings in New York and one of the few colorful ones, with walls painted in bright golden yellow compared to dull gray buildings and magnificent statues of the Blue Eyes White Dragon gracing the entrance. Inside the Kaibacorp building, there was a large stadium packed with audience seats full of duelists. Within the stadium, lied many dueling stages consisted of duelists battling instructors for a chance to enroll in one of the four famous Duel Academies located all over the world.

The girl just rushed in through the doors and gasped for air as she was about to collapse. Her eyes were in shadow and her arms were showing bones. Izumi collapsed on the rails behind the stadium chair and cheered, "I made it! I actually made it!" Her eyes were starry as she celebrated with a holy light above her. Then her eyes averted to the same guy she bumped into this morning sitting on one of the stadium chairs lazily. She blinked in surprise and then screamed mentally, _'It's that rude jerk!'_ She stomped up to him and pointed accursedly, "So you do know where it is! You could have showed me the way!"

The dual-haired boy just ignored her outburst and continuing watching the duel

Izumi's forehead vein throbbed in response. She shouted, "Hey? Are you listening to me?" The boy continued to ignore her. She groaned out of frustration and crossed her arms as she looked away, "At least talk to me! It's very rude when you ignore people!"

The boy just ignored her even more.

Izumi's forehead vein was twitching but she remained calm and tried to strike up a conversation, "So…whatcha looking at?" She glanced toward the dueling stage.

She saw a tall handsome boy with neatly combed pine green hair with hint of wilderness and eyes of the clear lake water under the moonlight. His build was athletic and his face expressed certain nobility. The boy was facing a uniformed instructor who had a humongous bright purple skinned beast with dark purple fur on its spine and claws on the dueling stage. It had sharp horns on its head and four knees. It also had a long tail and sharp razor teeth with green gums showing on its mouth. The beast was known as the Animal King – Behemoth. [Animal King – Behemoth: Earth/Beast/7/2700/1500: You may sacrifice only one monster to sacrifice summon this card, if you do, this card's original attack strength would become 2000. When this card is successfully Sacrifice Summon, for each monster you sacrifice to summon this card, return a Beast sub-type monsters from your Graveyard to your hand.]

The instructor had 1900 Life points displaying on the scoreboard over the dueling stage. On the opposite side, the boy only had one card face down on the M/T side of the field and he only had 2500 Life points left on the board.

"With no monsters to defend you, a direct attack from my Behemoth will take away all your life points!" The instructor bragged as victory had belonged to him, _'He only has one card in his hand and one card face down, there's nothing much that he can do to beat my monster. So much for coming from a noble family.'  
_  
The boy just stood there calm and composed but smiled with politeness, "I'm amazed at how quick you summoned such a powerful seven stars monster this turn but it's quite a pity." He closed his eyes as he smiled.

"Pity?" The instructor spoke in annoyed tone.

The boy nodded once, "Yes, a pity," He opened his eyes, revealing deadliness within them, "that you won't get a chance to use it." He put his only card on the duel disk, "I summon Blade Knight [BLADE KNIGHT: Light/Warrior/4/1600/1000: Effect: If you have 1 or fewer cards in your hand, increase this Monster's attack strength by 400. Also, if this is the only Monster you control, negate the Reverse Effects of Monsters that this one destroys during Battle.] in attack mode!" Suddenly, the famous knight dressed in shiny blue armor with a magnificent shield and sharp sword in his hands materialized on the field. The knight was commonly used by a powerful duelist who is the president of the company who hosted this exam. "Now that I have no cards in my hand, Blade Knight's effect will activate." The knight's initial attack strength suddenly increased to 2000.

The instructor laughed mockingly, "That's it? That's all the member of the Von Schraider family can do?"

"I'm not done yet." The boy smirked, "I activate my trap card, Hidden Ambush!" [Hidden Ambush - Trap: Every monster with the word [Knight] in its name with a lower attack strength than the opponent's monster's highest attack strength on the field can attack the opponent directly.] The face down card went erect, revealing a picture of gray knights hiding in the woods, waiting for the right moment to besiege an enemy black knight in the middle of the surroundings.

"What?" The instructor was shocked.

"Since my Blade Knight has lower attack strength than your Behemoth, I can attack your life points directly! Blade Knight, attack!" The knight hologram charged on his master's order. The armored knight rushed past the beastly king and headed toward his target. The hologram swung its sword and slashed diagonally at the instructor who screamed out of pain. How does a hologram ever hurt a person forever remained mystery. The attack sent the instructor's life points directly to zero.

The victor was decided and the holograms disappeared. The teenager smiled, "That was a good match."

The instructor gritted his teeth and looked down in shame, "I have lost." The audience cheered for his victory.

Izumi's eyes were wide as soft balls, "Wowww!" She complimented, "He's incredible!"

A red-haired boy suddenly ran in and panted. He cursed, "Oh man! I missed Von Schroeder's duel!"

Izumi blinked as she looked back to see the owner of the voice. It was another boy with fiery red spiked hair with few bangs staying down and a small thin tight ponytail. From Izumi's eyes, she had an instant impression that he was gangster with pierced ears and a wild-looking face. The boy looked up with glaring golden yellow eyes. Izumi cringed in fear, "Eh?"

The boy asked passionately, "So what did I miss? Come on, tell me!" His behavior completely contradicted his look.

Izumi looked at the boy with a sweat drop as she didn't expect his reaction. She slowly answered, "Um…I didn't see much…I only saw the last turn."

"Um, man!" The boy groaned frustratingly, "That's not big help!"

"Well…sorry…" Izumi felt offended, "I just got here myself."

The boy noticed her tone and quickly apologized with a laugh, "Sorry, sorry. I was just anxious to see this guy's duel but my exam duel took too long."

Izumi could feel that he was friendly and a nice person. She smiled, "It's okay."

The boy smiled back, "I'm Tsubaki Ryozai!"

Izumi blinked in surprise, "You're Japanese?" She cheered with enthusiasm, "Fellow comrade! I'm Kitamori Izumi! But you call me Izumi!" She asked, "Do you move here or were you born here?"

Tsubaki chuckled nervously, "Well, you could say I was born here in the Big Apple."

"That explained the American accent," Izumi pointed, "My family moved here from Japan though my older sister is still living there." Then she blinked as she realized something, "Von Schroeder? That name sound so familiar." She pondered as she put a finger on her chin.

"Two members of that family fought in the KC Grand Prix few years ago." Tsubaki explained

"Oh yeah! Those cheaters." Izumi frowned, "I bet that guy is the same." She glanced at the rich duelist at the dueling stage.

"Well, I'm not so sure about that. Ever since the Duel King defeated Leon, I heard the family turned over a new leaf." Tsubaki countered, "Plus he is candidate number one while…" He sulked with teary eyes, "I'm candidate 113."

Izumi sweat-dropped as she patted his shoulder, "There. There. It's alright." She noticed the same duelist was walking up the stadium stairs. She walked up to him, "Hey there, great duel!"

"Hmm?" The nobleman glanced at the short girl. He smiled politely, "Oh thank you for your kind compliment."

_'Hmm, he really doesn't seem like a bad person.'_ Izumi, "Nice to meet you, I'm Izumi Kitamori," She remembered to switch her name and surname since they were in America, "I'm candidate 80!" She offered her hand.

"Nice to meet you too, my name is Alexander." Alexander smiled as he shook her hand, "You're candidate 80? I never seen you fought before."

Izumi laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head, "That's because I just got here. Heh heh, I missed the bus."

"Really?" Alexander's green eyes blinked in surprise, "That's quite a bad situation."

"Huh, why?" Izumi asked with confusion.

"The duels for candidate 71 to 80 were already over!" Tsubaki shouted.

Izumi blinked as she absorbed the knowledge and her eyes suddenly became wide as dinner plates, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I completely missed my exam!"

"If you talked to the instructor, there's a chance that you could still duel." Alexander explained.

"Thank you!" Izumi bowed and rushed off in the speed of light again.

"Good luck! Break a leg!" Tsubaki yelled at her and Izumi just waved in response.

Alexander chuckled lightly as he was slightly amused by the strange girl's behavior but then he suddenly felt a brooding feeling as someone was staring at him. He averted his green eyes toward the icy cold amber eyes of a duelist who was sitting close by. Alexander just smiled, "I'm Alexander. What's your name?"

The cold teenage guy just ignored him as he moved his eyes back to the duels.

How rude." Alexander chuckled softly.

* * *

"How come I can't take the test?" Izumi cried to a woman sitting in front of a makeshift desk. The woman was a professor dressed in Osiris Red dress coat that fitted her body well and medium violet hair tied in braids. The girl continued, "I know I was late but I don't think that should be a reason for not letting me take the test."

"It is a valid reason." The female professor continued writing notes on her metal clipboard, "All duelists are expected to be punctual in appointments, duels, and most important of all, classes. If you failed to be punctual, then what's the point of being a proper duelist?"

"I…I know that!" Izumi defended, "But what if there are students that can't avoid be late like some traffic accident?"

"Then it's their unfortunate fate not to be duelist." The female professor replied sternly.

"That's cruel!" Izumi complained.

The professor spoke coldly, "Your complaints are not going to help you take the duel."

"Whose complaining, Carol?" A man with trimmed moss-brown hair walked in. He was dressed in long white sport shorts with closed Osiris Red custom sports teacher jacket, "Did someone want to retake the exam again just because she can't deal with loss very well."

"Something like that," Carol affirmed. She slit her eyes dangerously, "And it's Professor Morgan."

"It's not something like that!" Izumi disagreed and she ran up to the man who walked in, "Sir! I was late for my exam! You gotta give me a chance! Please?" She gave her best puppy eyes.

"Um well…" The man blushed as he couldn't resist the student's puppy eyes. He glanced at Morgan, "If it's only that, I don't see the harm in giving her a chance to take the exam."

Morgan suddenly slammed the desk with her clipboard, "Professer Tyrell!" She chided, "Must I remind you about the rules of our Duel Academy? If we let one student go just because it was an accident, then troublemakers will walk all over the rules and claimed too that it was an accident. Do you intend to take responsibility for that?"

"Well," Tyrell chuckled proudly, "the answer is obvious." He clenched his fist as his eyes were replaced by fires, "I intend to take full responsibility for it! That's what a real man do!"

"Denied." Morgan said it bluntly as she sat back in her desk.

"Ouch!" Tyrell whined, "What's wrong with letting me take responsibility? I'm a professor too!"

"Teaching sports doesn't require much brain"

Tyrell looked at Morgan with his left eye twitching, "That's an insult, isn't it?"

Morgan continued, "If I let you take full responsibility, the entire academy will go straight downhill."

"I can't believe it!" Tyrell wailed, "How can you not have faith in your fellow Osiris Red professor!"

"Because it's you, that's why I lack faith." Morgan glanced at the student's score paper on her clipboard. She grabbed her favorite stamp and pressed it. The paper now had a large bold red print of the world "Fail."

"Ouch! Just rub salt on my wounded pride, why don't you?" Tyrell grumbled.

Izumi sweat dropped as she watched the teachers argued among each other, "Um…teachers, my duel?"

"Denied!" Morgan insisted.

Izumi gasped, "You're cruel!"

Tyrell gaped, "You monster!"

"Insulting me is not going to help you take the test!" Morgan's vein twitched on the back of her head.

"But…but…" Izumi then noticed the same boy she bumped into walking down the hallway past them, "You!" She rushed up to him and grabbed his arm, "Hey, you!"

The guy suddenly glared with his cold amber eyes.

Izumi's eyes wavered in fright and her body shivered under his cold gaze. She slowly let go of his arm, "I'm sorry…" She realized the crucial situation, "Wait a minute! I shouldn't be sorry!" She clenched her fists, "You gotta help me here! They won't let me take the exam because I was late."

"And?" The boy spoke for the first time.

Izumi was surprised, "You actually talk…" Her brain then registered his word, "Wait, what do you mean by "and?"

The dual-haired boy replied boredly, "and what does it have to do with me?"

"Oh…" Izumi understood. There was a few seconds of awkward silence. She shouted, "Don't say it like it has nothing to do with you! You're the reason why I'm late!"

"Why?"

"Well because…" Izumi answered, "If you gave me directions or led the way, I wouldn't have got lost!"

"I didn't have to." The cold boy walked away, "I have the freedom to refuse. So it's your own fault."

"No…no way!" Izumi's hopes were crushed.

"I just told you so, didn't I?" Morgan claimed, "You can't take the test."

"I wouldn't say that, Professor Morgan." Alexander walked in, followed by Tsubaki.

"Yo, Izumi!" Tsubaki greeted.

"Alexander? Tsubaki?" Izumi was surprised to see them here.

"I couldn't help but overheard everything." Alexander smiled, "Professor Morgan, isn't there a rule in the book that stated that examinee shouldn't interfere with other examinee?"

The cold boy narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

The female professor's eyes tightened, "….there is a rule like that."

Izumi asked, "What are you doing, Alexander?"

Alexander chuckled, "Then we can safely say that this examinee prevented Izumi from taking the exam."

Izumi blinked for few seconds, "Eh?" Her slow brain registered it, "Ehhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The dual-haired boy gritted his teeth, "That's false accusation."

Alexander smiled, "But you have no proof that it is an accusation."

Morgan countered, "Same goes for you. There's no proof that this examinee interfered with the girl."

"Objection," Alexander politely stated with his smile growing larger, "But I do have proof."

Tyrell grimaced slightly, "Come on, that was a weak 'Objection'."

"…Since when did this turn into a courtroom drama?" Tsubaki questioned with a sweat-drop on his forehead.

Izumi shouted in surprise, "You have proof?"

"You see, I was riding in my limo, gazing at the bystanders through the window. That's when I saw a certain girl bumped into a certain boy. Out of amusement…I mean…concern, I decided to take a picture of it with my cell phone." Alexander took out his cellphone, showing a picture of Izumi's meeting with the cold boy.

Morgan grabbed the noble student's phone and analyzed the picture. She sighed disappointedly, "This picture is the proof."

"Eh?" Izumi questioned, "That means…?"

Morgan announced, "Examinee Izumi will be allowed to take the test but the other examinee is now disqualified."

"Alright!" Izumi cheered but quickly realized what else the female teacher said, "Wait, that's not good!"

The dual-haired guy suddenly grabbed Alexander's collar and glared intently, "What are you trying to pull?"

Alexander smiled with closed eyes, "Now, now, there's a way for both of you to stay."

The cold guy just tightened his hold even more, "I don't care. Fix this!"

Alexander opened his eyes and smirked, "If you're willing to repent your crime, you should duel in her place to redeem yourself."

"What?" The cold boy hissed, "I don't need to do this." Suddenly, something was tossed at him. By instinct, the boy grabbed it. He narrowed his eyes, "A duel disk…"

Tyrell slid his red duel disk down his left arm, "If you're a man, you should accept all challenges. Hey Carol, I'm going to duel this guy instead of the examiner."

"It's Professor Morgan." Morgan corrected. She sighed annoyingly and walked away from the crowd, "Do whatever you want. Just tell me the result when you're done."

"Got it!" Tyrell loaded his deck into the duel disk, "So boy, are you in or not?"

The cold boy scoffed, "I don't see why I have to do this."

Alexander smiled sadistically, "Then you would like to be kicked out?"

The cold boy growled but he knew that he had no choice. He put on the official Duel Academy duel disk and slid his deck in, "Let's just get this over with."

Izumi pointed out, "Wait, isn't a professor supposed to be really strong? Like stronger than an examiner?"

Alexander chuckled, "Of course otherwise you won't be a teacher at the Duel Academy?"

"Ehhhhh?" Izumi shrieked, "Then why did he have to duel a professor for? Why couldn't he deal with a regular examiner?" She glanced at Tyrell, "Why are you replacing the examiner for?"

"It's quite simple" Tyrell smirked.

"Simple?" Izumi blinked.

"It's manly guts!" Tyrell declared with passion.

Izumi blinked as her jaw dropped at sheer stupidity, "…huh?"

"Aren't you starting?" The cold boy complained.

Izumi averted her eyes to the dual-haired boy, "Are you crazy? You're dueling against a professor! This is my mess and I'll go back to talk to Professor Morgan to fix it!"

The cold boy grunted, "Shut up, flat chest."

The maroon haired girl gasped at his insult, "Flat chest?" She looked down and then blushed out of embarrassment. She yelled, "My chest is not flat!"

Tsubaki, being a guy, couldn't help but glanced at the girl's chest. He looked away as he laughed nervously, "It is kinda short."

Izumi punched Tsubaki in the cheek, "Pervert!"

"Ouch!" Tsubaki held his cheek, "I just got here with Von Schroeder!"

Tyrell grinned, "Alright since you insisted, let's duel!"

Suddenly both of their life points displayed 4000 appeared on a holographic scoreboard set up by the duel disk system.

"I'm charging in! Draw!" Tyrell drew a card and added it to his hand. He snatched one card and placed it horizontally, "I summon Tree Otter [Tree Otter: Water/Beast/2/1200/100: Effect: Once per turn, if you control another face-up Beast-Type monster, you can have 1 face-up monster you control gain 1000 ATK until the End Phase.] in defense mode!" A thick gray-furred otter materialized on the field. A baby otter appeared on her back as the mother otter crouched in defense, "I'll end my turn right here!"

"That's it?" Izumi questioned, "Why would he summon a monster with such a weak defense in defense mode?"

"Well, obviously, he's planning something." Tsubaki pointed out.

"Maybe…but…" Izumi squealed, "It's so cute!"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "But shouldn't an otter belonged in the sea? Why a tree?"

"Draw!" The boy drew a card from his deck set in his duel disk, "I summon E-Merc Flame Beserker in attack mode!" [E-Merc Flame Beserker: Fire/Warrior/3/1200/900] The card burst into flaming inferno that slowly merged into a tall muscular warrior with fiery orange skin. He wore a silver leg armors, foot guards and arm bracers with his chiseled chest bare. He also wore a silver helmet that covered his eyes but revealed its snarling mouth. Behind the helmet was his red hair moving as it was raging flame. He wielded a large red broadsword with flaming orange edge with both hands.

"Wow!" Izumic complimented, "That's a cool looking monster."

"But…it's a level three monster and normal too…doesn't seem that great to me." Tsubaki commented.

Alexander smiled as he continued to observe.

The boy ordered, "Flame Berserker! Burning Slash!" The warrior of fire charged across the field toward the cute mother and child pair. His sword burned violently as he swung it horizontally and sliced the creatures into fragments.

Izumi whined, "Aww, how could you kill such a cute monster?"

The boy glared intensely.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Keeping my mouth shut."

The boy grabbed another card from his Hand, "I place one card face down." He inserted the card into Magic/Trap slot of the duel disk, making the holographic face down card appeared on the Field, "I end my turn."

"Draw!" Tyrell drew the top card, "Alright, now to begin the real assault! I play a magic card, The Great Barrier Reef!" [The Great Barrier Reef – Normal Magic: Select 1 Level 4 or lower WATER Beast, Reptile, or Fish-type monster in your Graveyard, and Special Summon that monster and 1 monster from your hand with the same card name] A green card appeared with an image of a beautiful coral reef filled with various exotic fishes.

"The Great Barrier Reef?" Izumi asked.

Alexander answered, "The Great Barrier Reef is the world's biggest reef located in Australia."

"Australia?" Tsubaki realized, "Wait, does that mean…?"

Alexander smiled, "His decks might have koalas."

Izumi squealed, "Eh, cute koalas?"

Tyrell explained, "The Great Barrier Reef allow me to special summon a Water-Beast type in the Graveyard and also let me special summon the same copy of that monster from my Hand!"

"Ah!" Izumi yelled, "That means…"

Tyrell placed two cards on the duel disk, "I get to special summon two Tree Otters! And I put both of them in attack mode!" Two angry-looking pairs materialized on the Field, anxious to attack the fire mercenary, "Tree Otter has an awesome little effect. When there's another face-up Beast type monster, Tree Otter can add 1000 ATK power to one face up monster till the end of my turn. So, I'm making both of them giving each 1000 ATK power!" The babies on the mothers' backs suddenly switched places, giving the bigger beasts power up. [Both Tree Otters: 1200 + 1000 = 2200 ATK]

"Woah!" Tsubaki stared in amazement, "He already has two monsters with over 2000 ATK power!"

Tyrell placed another card, "Then I normal summon Death Kangaroo [Death Kangaroo: Dark/Beast/4/1500/1700: Effect: If the ATK of a monster that attacks this monster is lower than the DEF of this card, destroy the attacking monster. (Damage calculation is applied normally.)] in attack mode!" A mean-looking green kangaroo with purple jacket shirt jumped into the field. It punched with its red boxing glove as warm-up.

Tsubaki continued, "Now he has three monsters!"

Tyrell declared, "Tree Otter #1, attack his monster!" The fat otter charged and slammed down the poor warrior into smithereens.

Boy: 4000 – 1000 = 3000. Tyrell: 4000.

"I'm going to keep up the assault! Tree Otter #2! It's your turn!" Tyrell ordered as the second otter charged toward the boy.

The boy gritted his teeth as he quickly pressed a button, "I activate my trap card, Finish the Job!" [Finish the Job! – Trap: Special Summon a monster with [E-Merc] in its name when it is destroyed as result of battle from the Graveyard.] His facedown card revealed a picture of the Greedy Goblin Merchant, holding a pot of greed in his arm, shouting orders to the E-Merc Flame Berserker who seemed wounded but remained holding his flaming broadsword up, "I special summon back my E-Merc Flame Beserker in defense mode!" A flame rose from the Field and the muscular warrior returned in defense by holding his broad sword in front of him. The second otter stopped her change and jumped back to her master's Field.

"Heh, that was nice, boy, but not for long!" Tyrell pointed to his kangaroo, "Death Kangaroo, knock out that warrior!" The kangaroo leapt toward the warrior while spinning its right arm. It then gave a powerful thrust that sent the warrior tumbling across the ground into thousand pieces, "Now, Tree Otter #2, direct attack!" The otter gave a loud shriek as she charged again. The boy narrowed his eyes as he instinctively brought up his duel disk in guard. The otter collided with the boy's duel disk, damaging his life points.

Boy: 3000 – 2200 = 800. Tyrell: 4000.

The otter jumped back on Tyrell's field to join the other Australian creatures. Tyrell crossed his arms as he felt extremely proud, "Normally, that would have been my last turn but you did well to survive, boy. I end my turn! Thus my Tree Otters' ATK points returned to normal." The otters' ATK point reset, "Now show me what you got!"

"Hmph," The boy scoffed as he drew his card. He snatched one card and played it right away, "I played Monster Reincarnation." [Monster Reincarnation – Normal Magic: Discard 1 Card. Add 1 Monster Card from your Graveyard to your Hand.] His card appeared with an image of beautiful cross filled with various decorations of wings and ribbons, "I discard one card," He grabbed one card and sent it to the discard slot, "And then I add E-Merc Flame Beserker to my hand." He grabbed one of the only three cards in the graveyard slot and added it to his hand, "I end my turn."

"Eh?" Izumi and Tsubaki were surprised.

"That's it?" Tsubaki complained, "Did he give up or something?"

"Maybe…" Izumi paled, "He's not doing his best because he's mad at me?"

Alexander laughed amusingly, "If he's mad, he should have take it out on me instead."

Izumi wailed, "This is not funny! If he loses, I might not get accepted at all!"

Alexander smiled, "Don't worry, Izumi. I don't think he gives up yet."

"That's all?" Tyrell questioned, "Do you expect me to show you mercy? Heh, a man doesn't show mercy in competition! A true man gotta give everything he got! Draw!" The professor drew the card and announced, "I'm going to end it with a bang! I play Polymerization!" [Polymerization – Normal Magic: Fuses 2 or more Fusion-Material Monsters to form a new Fusion Monster.] A picture of orange colored demon and a dragon were absorbed into the swirling vortex was on display, "I fuse Big Koala from my Hand and Des Kangaroo on the Field to fusion summon the strongest beast-type monster, Master of Oz!" [Master of Oz: Earth/Beast/Fusion/9/4200/3700] There was a huge burst of light as a gigantic green-furred koala with purple vest and red boxing gloves rose to the field. It had a kangaroo pouch holding a large lighter. It gave a loud roar as introduction.

"Woah!" Tsubaki yelled, "A monster with over 4000 ATK points!"

Izumi looked like she was about to say how cute it was. Her face expression immediately dropped flat, "It's not that cute."

Tsubaki fell down and Alexander laughed.

Tyrell continued, "Then I use both of my Tree Otters' effects and give their 1000 ATK point increases to Master of Oz!" Both children on the mother otters jumped into the giant koala's pouch. [Master of Oz: 4200 + 1000 + 1000 = 6200 ATK]

Tsubaki shouted, "And it's going even higher!"

Izumi asked, "Um…but is it really necessary to have this much power when he only got 800 Life Points left?"

Tsubaki explained, "He's a man! A man gotta give everything he got!"

Izumi rolled her eyes, "Alrighty, then…" She averted her violet eyes expressed with worries to the boy, _"But what's he going to do with an empty field?"_

Tyrell ordered, "Master of Oz! Attack him directly!" The giant beast roared as it pounced toward the boy. It held its right arm back and just as it was about to punch the duelist, a black barrier surrounded the cold boy. The barrier prevented the beast from attacking, "What?" He then noticed a brown furry ball with adorable claws and feet floating next to the cold boy, "A Kuriboh? Wait, it's different." The professor noticed that the Kuriboh had mean round eyes instead of cute eyes and it had black impish wings.

"I never seen this kind of Kuriboh before!" said Tsubaki.

"I thought all Kuirbohs are cute," Izumi admitted, "But this one looked cold as the owner himself."

"I activated the effect of my Yami Kuriboh," The boy revealed Yami Kuriboh card in his hand, "By removing Yami Kuriboh from the Graveyard, all Battle Damage is reduced to zero this turn."

"So you're able to live one more turn?" Tyrell smirked, "You're very persistent but that's an important quality in being a man! I end my turn and Master of Oz's ATK points returned back to normal." The giant creature's ATK points lowered to its normal ATK points, "So boy, do you have any luck? If you can't win this, you won't be able to get into the Duel Academy!" He laughed proudly.

The cold boy growled, _"Not like I had a choice." _He narrowed his amber eyes, "Draw!" He looked at the top card and slowly smirked, "Heh, that giant beast is dead."

Tyrell uncrossed his arms and frowned, "You actually drew a card that can change the tide?"

The boy quickly inserted a card into the M/T slot and activated it, "I play Quick-play Magic card, Revolutionary Weapon!" [Revolutionary Weapon – Quick-play Magic: Switch the original ATK and DEF of all face-up monsters on the field until the end of the End Phase.] The spell card that contained a picture of numerous warriors holding their powerful weapons in defensive positions, defending the castle, "This card allow me to switch the ATK and DEF of all monsters on the field!"

Tyrell gawked, "Eh, that means my monsters now have weaker ATK points." He mused, "Bad for my Tree Otters but my Master of Oz's ATK points are still high!"

"Not for long," The boy played another card, "Since you used fusion, I'm going to use fusion too. I play Polymerization and fuse my E-Merc Flame Beserker!" A burst of fire on the Field revealed the tough warrior, "And my E-Merc Tempest Lady!" [E-Merc Tempest Lady: Wind/Warrior/3/1000/1000] There was a gust of wind that revealed a slender woman with gray feathered wings and sky-blue armor over her chest and her legs. She wore a midnight blue protective bracers over her hands and talons. Her helmet resembled a predatory hawk covered her entire head with only the mouth showing, "Into E-Merc Blazing Windman!"

A pillar of fire and wind rose from the Field and merged together, creating a tiny explosion. As the smokes cleared, a powerful warrior had entered the field. Its face resembled man with a large black helmet with a feathered horn on the top and small wings on the sides. Its muscular body was mostly fiery orange with long reptilian sky blue tail and one large black feathered wing on its right side. Its right arm was an orange demonic arm with claws but its left arm was very large build with the head of sky blue colored hawk with dangerous white beak. [E-Merc Blazing Windman: Wind/Warrior – Fusion/6/2100/1200: This card can only be special summoned by fusion summon. When this card destroys and sends a Monster to the graveyard in battle, do damage equal to the defense strength of the monster destroyed to your opponent.]

Izumi gaped, "Wow, that's amazing."

"Yeah, but," Tsubaki pointed out, "Its ATK points is not high as Master of Oz!"

Alexander just smiled, "I don't think it's over yet."

"Pretty manly looking fusion, boy," Tyrell complimented, "But it's not enough to defeat my Master of Oz!"

"I still have two more cards, old man!" The boy played another card, "I play a magic card, Exchange of Blood Vows!" [Exchange of Blood Vows – Normal Magic: Pay 1000 Life Points or less in increments of 50, select a monster on the Field and increase the selected monster's ATK points by the same amount you paid with Life Points.] His magic card contained a picture of a young warrior clasping his hand with another young warrior's hand. Blood were seeping out of their clenched hands down their arms, "This magic card allowed me to use my Life Points to increase my monster's ATK points. So I pay 700 Life Points to give my E-Merc Blazing Windman an ATK point increase of 700!"

Boy: 800 – 700 = 100. Tyrell: 4000. [E-Merc Blazing Windman: 2100 + 700 = 2800 ATK]

"Finally, I play this card, Battle Coliseum!" [Battle Coliseum – Field Magic: When a monster with [Merc] in its name, battles a monster with Higher ATK, decrease the opponent's monster attack by 1000.] The boy held a magic card with a display of a lone warrior standing in the middle of the Rome Coliseum surrounded by cheering audiences. He opened the Field slot of the duel disk and inserted the magic card. Suddenly the battle field was replaced by the famous circular structure of Rome.

Tyrell looked around in amazement, "Boy, I have more respect for you." He gave a thumb's up, "This is truly a manly field!"

The boy's left eye twitched in annoyance but he explained, "When my Mercenary monster attack a monster with higher ATK, that monster's ATK will decrease by 1000."

Tyrell's eyes widened in surprise, "That means!" He glanced at his Master of Oz.

"The means my monster can now destroy your Master of Oz!" The boy ordered, "E-Merc Blazing Windman! Blazing Hawk!" The Blazing Windman suddenly soared to the sky. The giant koala quickly looked up to see his opponent but the shining sun behind E-Merc warrior and the cheers of the supporting audience had weakened his power dramatically. Her initial attack strength 3700 had dropped to 2700. The Blazing Windman aimed its left arm at Master of Oz. The hawk's beak snapped opened and fired a hawk made of purple flames at the weakened king of beasts. As it struck the creature, Master of Oz roared in agony as he burned into complete ashes.

Boy: 100. Tyrell: 4000 – 100 = 3900.

The boy smirked, "Because Blazing Windman destroyed your monster, its effect deal damage to your life points equal to the destroyed monster's defense strength," his smirk became wider, "which is 4200."

Tyrell gaped as he couldn't believe his eyes and the pain of loss had dragged him down.

Boy: 100. Tyrell: 3900 – 4200 = 0.

Tsubaki gasped, "He won….he actually beat a professor."

As the holograms disappeared, Izumi just stared at the boy with amazement.

Alexander looked at the boy with great interest, "I have a feeling it's going to be an interesting year at the Duel Academy."

The cold boy puts his duel disk away and started to walk away. Izumi quickly ran up to him, "Hey wait!"

The boy stopped with his back facing Izumi.

"I still didn't get your name. Will you tell me now?" Izumi asked.

The cold hearted boy with amber eyes and dual-colored hair sighed at the maroon-haired girl's persistence. He slowly turned his head and finally answered, "Yuki Kurai."

Episode 1: The one who succeeds Yugi's other half

**TBC**

**Izumi: **Yuki Kurai. Yuki Kurai. I think that's such a cool name!

**Tsubaki: **But why does it sound so similar to Yuki Judai?

**Izumi: **ACK! **::she threw a duel disk at Tsubaki::**

**Tsubaki: **AHHH! **::he fell down:: **

**Izumi: **We're not supposed to know that name! Forget it right now!

**Tsubaki rubbed his head: **After you hit me so hard, I just probably did! Wait, I just remembered! Aren't we supposed to do the preview for the next episode?

**Izumi: **Ah! We're running out of time already! Um…Um…I forgot what I'm supposed to say!

**Tsubaki: **Quick! Mention the next episode title!

**Next Episode: Episode 2: The Beginning of the New School Year!**

**Izumi cheered: **I said it in time!

**Tsubaki: **But such a boring title.

* * *

**Strongest Card of the Duel**

**Alexander: **Today's strongest card would have to be Master of Oz, a fusion of kangaroo and koala, the strongest beast-type monster of Duel Monsters.

**Izumi: **Hmm, but it's not really cute as the smaller creatures. I mean what's with the giant lighter? And the weird mustache!

**Alexander smiled**: They said that a mustache signified the importance of being a man.

**Izumi: **Oh, I see. Would you grow one?

**Alexander chuckled: **Over my dead body.

**Izumi sweatdrop: **Eh, never mind then.

**Alexander: **Izumi, do you know the Master of Oz is truly the ruler of Oz from Wizard of Oz?

**Izumi: **Ehhhhhh? Really? How come I never heard of this guy?

**Alexander: **That's because the poor magnificent ruler was cut out for its extreme violent scene.

**Izumi: **Extreme violent scene?

**Alexander: **That's right. Remember, the fake Wizard of Oz left the Emerald City by a hot-air balloon.

**Izumi: **Uh-huh?

**Alexander: **That's not true at all. The Master of Oz was so repulsed by the wizard's fallacies, that he punched the old man out of Oz. He even punched Miss Dorothy back to Kansas too.

**Izumi: **Really? That's…I don't know what to say…I'm shocked, actually, to think that one of my favorite childhood stories is actually like this…

**Alexander: **Izumi…it's a lie.

**Izumi fell down.**

**Alexander smiled: **Oz is actually another name for Australia which make sense because Master of Oz is fusion of the two well most known creatures of the continent.

**Izumi sulked: **It was a lie….everything was a lie…

* * *

Wahoo! First Episode is completed. I hope you notice many things that are half. Such as Yugioh GX took place in Japan which and this story took place in America on the other half of the world. Plus if you noticed our cold hero used E-Merc deck, short for Elemental Mercenary. Mercenaries are different from Heroes who served for justice. Mercenaries are just type of fighters who willing to be bought for money instead serving for free. And yes, I know that this chapter's duel is similar to episode 1 duel. I did it on purpose. Hope you enjoy it and please review.


	2. 2A: The Beginning of A New Year

**Author's note: **There are lots of original characters in this chapter. I hope you like them as much as I like them.

**Lux-Nero**: Thanks for reading and your advertisement. For some reason, fanfiction deleted the empty spaces between disclaimer and the main story.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX. Credit goes to falsememories and YGO for translations of Yugioh GX Episode 2.

**Episode 2: The Beginning of the New Year  
**  
Duel Academia, the number one of the five academies located across the world. It was also unofficially titled the central Academy of the academies since the remaining four were located in the cardinal directions. Only the best of the best were accepted to the Duel Academia at the beginning of the school year. But what separated the best of Duel Academia from the best of North, East, South, and West Duel Academies was a matter of luck. Twenty percent of applicants were randomly selected by the classic Blue Eyes White Dragon machine used on the Battle Ship. It was determined that it should be luck or fate that decided the status of upcoming duelists. Although honestly, there are some major corporations that were willing to pay big dollars to the Kabia Corporation to let certain duelists accepted to Duel Academia such as the Manjoume Group. The remaining eighty percent of the applicants were sent to the four lesser known Duel Academies.

It was unfortunate that our hero didn't have the luck to get accepted into Duel Academia but his skills had put him in the South Duel Academy and that is where our story began.

South Duel Academy, one of the ever popular teaching school and one of the few established on an island. Like all other Academies, the school consisted of three grades: Obelisk Blue, Ra Yellow, and Osiris Red. Each grade had their own dormitory. Obelisk Blue's dormitory was like a huge white castle with lavish rooms and dining. It was ported on the edge of the ocean, giving the students a gentle sea breeze through their own patio of each owned room. It came with numerous private personal enjoyments established in renowned courtyard with lush gardens. Ra Yellow's dormitory was a huge mansion with the entrance facing the dirt road facing the perfect view of the romantic sunset diving into the dark waters. Osiris Red's Dormitory had an interesting structure. Numerous round tree houses made out of house materials with creaking wooden bridges stood atop the shallow ocean floor with waves crashing through their supported stands.

A maroon red haired girl who was dressed in her Osiris Red uniform neatly was walking on the wooden bridge, making annoying creaking sound with each step. The girl, Kitamori Izumi, was walking to the hut at the far edge of the dorms area. She quickly knocked on the wooden door with a loud bang and yelled, "Hey, Yuki!"

An ominous wind blew as no one answered the door.

Izumi pondered, "No one in the house?" she knocked harder on the door, "Hey, Yuki Kurai!" Suddenly she knocked something softer this time, "Huh?" A huge tear of droplet just dripped through her head, "Sorry?" Her fist had landed on the dual-blue haired boy's face.

Her fist slowly dropped, revealing one pissed off duelist. Izumi's tear of droplet just became even bigger as she felt that her Life Points are dropping to zero. Kurai just slammed the door closed.

Izumi sighed out of relief as she had few remaining Life Points left, "That was scary." Izumi opened her violet eyes, "Wait, I didn't come here to get scared!" She clenched her fist again and banged on the door, "Hey!"

Kurai opened the door again with complete annoyance on his face, expressing one word What?

"Can we least talk to each other like friends? You are the first duelist I met!" Izumi exclaimed with a happy smile.

Kurai just stood there for awhile, looking completely annoyed. He slammed the door closed again.

Izumi sweat-dropped at his response and shouted, "Hey! At least say something! I just wanna talk to someone!" There was no answer, Izumi continued yelling, "Hey! Are you even listening to me?" She pouted and decided to press her ear on the door. At first, she heard snoring, indicating Kurai has a roommate until suddenly she heard a scream. She jumped back and panicked, "Oh my God, Yuki is killing his roommate!" She's just paranoid.

Suddenly the door snapped open and a familiar red-spiked hair teenage guy was thrown out along with his warm blanket.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Tsubaki? You're Yuki's roommate?"

Tsubaki almost tripped on his own blanket but quickly stabilized himself. He quickly glared at Kurai, the one who thrown him out, "What's the big idea?"

Kurai just ignored him and glanced at Izumi, "There. Talk to someone." He slammed the door again.

Izumi sweat-dropped again, "………………………………oh how rude." She pouted and she averted her eyes to Tsubaki. Her face immediately turned red and she screamed, "Eeeeeeeek! Tsubaki! Put some clothes on!" She quickly looked away as she covered her eyes with her hands.

Tsubaki was almost entirely naked with his only fiery boxers on. He blushed beet red and quickly covered himself with his blanket, "I like to sleep bare." He explained hastily and then he shivered under the morning coldness, "Ahh! It's cold!" He clenched his teeth and his golden eyes were instantly replaced by raging fire, "That cold hearted rotten bas…." Suddenly he was smacked in the head by a thrown alarm clock.

Izumi yelled, "Tsubaki!" She quickly braced herself as Tsubaki fell into the water with a great splash. She looked at him with a tear droplet on her head, "At least, you have breakfast."

Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched as the fish's tail was flapping outside his mouth.

Izumi looked back at the house and saw that Kurai was the one who throw it. She fumed, "Hey! That was rude!"

Kurai just walked away with a cold attitude.

Izumi went after him, "Hey, Yuki! I'm not done talking to you!"

Kurai stopped in his track and sighed in frustrated tone, "What?" His reply was concise and rude.

"Um…You see…Well…." Izumi was struggling but quickly coughed to clear her throat. She bowed, "I wanna thank you for what you done for me."

"Huh?" Kurai spoke annoyingly.

"You know," Izumi pointed out, "When you win the duel against the professor, it got me accepted into the academy. Well, got you accepted into the academy…um well…actually, it's my mess…so maybe I should apologize instead of thanking you, huh?" She laughed nervously.

"Hmph." Kurai's back was face toward her, "If it wasn't for you, I would have been in Obelisk Blue or Ra Yellow."

"Um well…that is kinda true.." Izumi sweat-dropped as she had a flashback.

* * *

"I'm not really surprised that you defeated Professor Tyrell." Morgan, the purple-haired supervisor of the female Osiris Red's dorms, was facing Kurai, "After all, his empty head makes him quite an easy opponent."

Tyrell, the moss-haired supervisor of the male Osiris Red's dorms, complained, "Hey, wait just a minute! I'm not weak nor stupid! This kid is really good. He definitely have potential!"

"I don't give a cent about whose potential," Morgan glanced at Kurai's application, "You have excellent test score and duel score too. But since the applicant Izumi is your responsibility, I'm splitting your score in half for the two of you."

"What?" Kurai slit his eyes coldly.

"Eh, what's that supposed to mean?" Izumi demanded.

"It means half of Kurai's score belongs to you now, Izumi." Morgan explained, "That also means both of you's new individual scores just barely applied for Osiris Red."

"Oh…" Izumi understood and then exclaimed, "That means both of us are now in Duel Academies! That's great!"

"Great for you, maybe," Morgan shut her metal clipboard loudly, "Not good for your new friend here since he might have been in Obelisk Blue. Oh well," She shrugged, "it's his luck that got him involved in your mess." She walked off.

Tyrell was about to follow Morgan. He looked back with reassuring grin, "Hey, Osiris Red is not such a bad place! Beside if you're going to aim for the top, it's best to start from the bottom!" He laughed proudly as he returned back to his co-worker.

Izumi sweat-dropped as she couldn't believe what the teachers just said, "You guys…" Her sweat-droplet became bigger as she felt Kurai was giving the death glare behind her back. She cried, "You guys just dug my grave!"

* * *

Izumi chuckled nervously after remembering her flashback, "Look, I know it's my fault!" Izumi insisted, "But I still wanna pay you back! You don't know how thankful I am to you!"

Kurai gave his cold glare that sent Izumi shivers, "If you want to thank me, you can start by shutting your mouth, walk away, and then leave me alone." He stormed off.

Izumi just gaped in shock and complained, "Jeeze, I just wanna help you!" She stormed off in the other direction.

Tsubaki, who was still in the ocean waters, spat out the live seawater fish, "Guys, little help here?"

* * *

Elsewhere in Duel Academia.

"What is this?" A short aqua-haired boy, Sho, touched the rustic pipe of a two-story dormitory, "Osiris Red is the only dorm that's bad."

A dual-haired boy, Judai, looked back from the railing he was leaning on. He clasped his fist happily, "Is that right? This place has a great view, and you can feel the breeze!" He explored more until he noticed their room number, "It's here! It's here!" He opened the door, "This is our room."

Sho glanced at his PDA for the room arrangements, "We'll be rooming together." He followed Judai inside the room.

"It's surprisingly narrow." Judai smiled as he glanced around, "But living here shouldn't be bad. I like it."

Sho grinned, "It must be our destiny to share bunk beds." He suddenly imagined Judai as the pharaoh and himself in the Egyptian priest's clothes, "Maybe we're the reincarnations of the Pharaoh and Priest Seto from ancient Egypt!" Sho blushed slightly as he looked at Judai, "Can I call you Pharaoh?"

Judai felt little disturbed as he looked back, "Calling me Pharaoh is kind of strange."

Sho tried again, "How about Aniki?"

"There are no friendships among duelists, only rivals."

Sho looked down, "But whatever, it's up to you."

"This…" Judai felt bad and scratched his cheek embarrassingly, "Let's start working hard together for the title," He pulled the curtain window opened, "of Duel King."

"So bright! Shut the curtains!" Another voice complained. It was coming from the top bunk bed.

Sho was surprised, "Someone is here?"

Judai rubbed the back of his head and apologized, "I'm sorry…I didn't notice."

"This semester's new freshmen, right?" A large boy looked over at the two freshmen.

"Ahhh! Death Koala!" Sho and Judai grabbed each other out of fright as they immediately mistaken the boy as a koala.

The boy twitched as he clenched his fist, "Don't call me a koala!"

* * *

Back at South Duel Academy.

Students were straying away from a certain female Osiris Red student who was stomping on the concrete road with steam blowing off her head. Izumi roared, "That stupid rude idiot! I just want to talk to him, that's all! Don't have to be so cold about it!" Izumi sighed, "I'm in a new school and I have no friends to talk to." She glanced at the famous Duel Academy in front of her with loneliness in her violet eyes, "It's no fun to be in a new school without friends."

"Hello, Miss Kitamori." A calm voice called her name.

Izumi turned around and saw a smiling handsome man, "Alexander!"

"Fancy meeting you here." Alexander walked past her and stared at the magnificent structure of the Academy, "Tomorrow, we'll have our first day in this Academy, excited?"

"Absolutely! I'm going to make friends and have exciting duels!" Izumi noticed his uniform, "Woah, Alexander, you're in Obelisk Blue? As expected from the noble family, I guess."

"I wouldn't lie saying my family doesn't use any connections but I can say I'm not entirely happy about that." Alexander smiled politely, "By the way, you can call me Alex. Alexander seemed stiff."

"Okay, as long as you don't call Miss. I'm not that old yet!" Izumi laughed.

Alex laughed along, "Very well, Izumi. How's Yuki coming along?"

Izumi asked, "Yuki?" She remembered the vivid image of the duelist's cold glare, "Argh, he's a jerk!"

"I see." Alex smiled, "He must be doing great then."

Izumi looked at him suspiciously, "Do you have to smile every time?"

Alex just smiled again, "Not really but I just like to smile to annoy people."

Izumi was silent. She commented, "You're quite evil."

"Why thank you." Alex thanked while smiling.

"Hey, Izumi!" A familiar male professor showed up.

"Ah, Professor Tyrell!" Izumi greeted, "Good morning!"

"And it's a nice morning. The sky is clear and the sun is just warm. Since the weather is so great, we should do something that fits the mood!" Tyrell grinned.

"Fits the mood?" Izumi asked.

"The mood to get your blood boiling! Your heart pumping! Your adrenaline rushing! Your manly guts firing!"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Well I'm a girl, so I'm not sure about manly guts."

"Yes! Today is certainly a perfect day for a mano to mano duel!" Tyrell clenched his fist with passionate roaring fire in the background.

Izumi's sweat droplet became bigger and she looked away as she was slightly scared, "And this guy is going to be our P.E. teacher?"

Alex smirked, "I heard Professor Tyrell have a military background."

Izumi blinked in surprise, "A military background?" She suddenly had a dream of Tyrell dressed in military uniform shouting at all the weak maggots to do a thousand push-ups. She clasped her face and screamed, "No way! I don't want my Duel Academy experience to be like boot camp!"

Alex continued, "Cheer up, Izumi. Think of all the muscles you would get at the end of the school."

Izumi paled as she had image of herself with bulging muscles. She wailed, "Noooooooo! I don't want to be like that!" She shook her head frantically, "No! No! No! I don't want to be trained by the military!"

Tyrell blinked in confusion and then pointed out, "There's no one like that."

"Eh?" Izumi stopped screaming.

Alexander laughed in the background.

Izumi's forehead vein twitched. She yelled, "Alex!"

"Anyhow," Tyrell interrupted, "Where's Kurai? Is he with you?" He smirked as he clenched his fist, "I want to challenge him again!"

"Eh?" Izumi shouted.

"Well, that is what I want to do," Tyrell shrugged, "But Carol…you know her as Professor Morgan…she said I'm a teacher, so I can't duel students as much as I like."

"Heh…" Izumi chuckled nervously, "Although Professor Morgan seemed awfully mean but both of you keep in check with each other, huh?"

Tyrell blinked as he didn't understand, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"By the way, Professor Tyrell," Alex interjected, "you mentioned that Yuki reminded you of someone. Who is this someone? I'm quite curious." He smiled politely.

"Heh, heh, heh, I'm glad you asked." Tyrell grinned, "There's a guy who made really good sake."

"Sake?" Izumi asked, "This person is in Japan?"

Tyrell nodded, "Of course, when I participated in a duel tournament in Domino City. I went out for a drink and there I noticed a bar. There was something special about it. I couldn't resist it, so I went inside and there I was in awe."

Izumi questioned, "So this person is in a bar?"

Tyrell explained, "Heh, this person is the owner of the bar! This person is Maeda Kumazou! Right away, I can tell he's a man of all men! I'm in awe of his majestic strength!"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Kuma…zou?....A bear?" (Kuma means bear in Japanese) She sweat-dropped even more, "So Professor Tyrell admired a manly bear?"

Alexander smiled, "Heh, don't the Japanese have a term for that? They called it…bara, right?" (Bara is a yaoi term for bear-like men…um well you know the picture)

Izumi blushed in shock, "Alex, how could you say that! In fact, how do you even hear of that word?"

Alexander smiled, "What's wrong, Izumi? I thought bara means rose in Japanese. After all, my cousin Ziegfried always have a bara with him. So why is your face red?"

Izumi blushed even more, "Never mind!"

Luckily, Tyrell was going on about how cool and manly Kumazou is, "Oh yeah, the guy that Kurai reminded me of is Kumazou's son!" He mentioned, "His name is Hayato! In exchange for Kumazou's shipment of awesome sake, I tutored his son in duel monsters! As the result, he has an Australian deck like me and now he's in Duel Academia!" He laughed proudly, "Pretty amazing, right?"

Izumi gasped, "The legendary Duel Academia? So what grade is he?"

Tyrell said it proudly, "In Osiris Red!"

"Eh?"

Tyrell continued on with a tone of a proud teacher, "In fact, he's one of the lowest ranked student of Duel Academia!" He laughed.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "That's nothing to be proud of…"

Tyrell grabbed a picture from his wallet, "In fact, I have a picture of Hayato!" He tossed it, "Here you go!"

Izumi grabbed it and stared at it. Alex glanced over her shoulder. There was a long uncomfortable silence. Izumi showed the picture of a large black-haired boy with round nose and body at Tyrell roughly, "What part of this Hayato guy remind you of Yuki? They looked nothing alike!"

Alex smiled, "He's quite big."

* * *

Meanwhile an Obelisk Blue female student was observing a whole new batch of teenagers sent from the mainland of America with her gaudy pink binoculars, "Argh, a new year with a new herd, flock, or whatever, definitely not many cute and handsome men." She tossed her expensive binoculars away since she can just buy a new one with her handsome batch of allowance sent by her so-called rich father. Once she tossed it, her face was revealed. She had numerous flashy make-ups on with her shining clear blonde hair that extended beyond her waistline. She also had fake eye contacts which is cherry-pink colored. Her body build was voracious along with slender arms and smooth legs. Her bust line was very large due to an expensive plastic surgery.

"Hmm, at least there was a Von Schroeder, now that man was very handsome," She sighed dreamily and then flicked her expensive hair, "If I were in charge of the Duel Academy, I would only allow dueling handsome cuties and make them serve my biddings. Ho! Ho! Ho!" She laughed snobbishly.

"Lisa!" A screechy voice was yelling the blonde's name. Lisa turned her head toward the noise and saw a pale-white skinned girl, also in Obelisk Blue, was running up to her. Like Lisa, she had numerous make ups on with slender body build. She had brown eyes along with short dark-colored bob hair-cut above her neckline.

"Well, well, it isn't my loyal aide, Vanessa?" Lisa chuckled, "Do tell what gossip you found!"

Vanessa was panting since she ran all the way here because it was an emergency, "A girl…" She panted.

"A girl?" Lisa raised her eye in suspicion, "Please, Vanessa, I know you can get more juicy gossip than that mere word."

Vanessa took a deep breathe and calmed herself down. She yelled, "A girl is hanging around with Von Schroeder!"

"A girl hanging around with Von Schroder?" Lisa gasped with a dramatic lightning struck the dark background behind her. She began to quiver, "A girl? A mere girl?" Her body was shaking, "What kind of a girl is she?"

Vanessa took a large gulp before she answered, "An Osiris Red girl."

"A mere country farm girl is hanging out with our Lord Von Schroeder?" Another lightning flashed across the dark dramatic background.

Vanessa nodded frantically as she just moved the black background with lightning away.

"Lord Alexander Von Schroeder, the member of the one of the richest families in the world. He's no Lord Kaiba but he has such divine beauty with a winning smile." Lisa's eyes were starry with a sparking pink flowers background, "How you must be bothered with the presence of a mere poor people when you should be with graceful lady like me. I should act right away! This girl must be stopped. As the president of Hunky, Attractive, Noble, Dangerous, So Magnificent, Elegant aka H.A.N.D.S.O.M.E. Duelists club, I will save our precious Von Schroeder or my name is not Lisa Romaro! Ho! Ho! Ho!" She laughed snobbishly.

"Miss Lisa!" Vanessa applauded with eyes full of admiration.

* * *

Meanwhile Kurai was walking around, obviously looking for quiet secluded spots away from all the annoying distractions. He grumbled, "Damn her. Damn him. If it wasn't for his mess, I wouldn't be in this stinky Osiris Red." He was walking on the dirt road until he stopped to admire the view of the ocean. He was thinking of a person who was his goal, _'Knowing him, he's probably farther away from me.' _He tightened his fist angrily as he felt frustrated at his current situation.

* * *

In front of the Duel Academy, a certain rich girl had her sight on Izumi talking to Alexander with her new pink binoculars. She tossed her expensive binoculars away and had a fake teary expression in her eyes, "A girl. A mere farm country girl is talking to My Lord Von Schroeder!"

Vanessa looked at Lisa with suspicion.

A tiny droplet formed on Lisa's forehead, "I mean Our Lord Von Schraider!" Lisa narrowed her eyes, "Enough about that, our main concern is that girl! Who knows what evil plans is brewing inside her horrible corrupted mind! All we know is that…." Lisa stood up dramatically, "It will ruin Our Lord Von Schroeder's name!" The blonde's pink eyes were full of determination, "Our top priority is to stop this witch! We strike when she's alone!" She gave an order.

"Yes!" Vanessa saluted with an army hat but then she noticed someone familiar, "Miss Lisa!"

"What is it?" Lisa asked annoyingly, "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt when I'm having my special star moment."

A woman's voice chuckled, "When you're having a star moment, your focus should not wonder around. That's an important aspect of a duelist."

"Ah…" Lisa quickly turned her head toward the owner's voice, "Professor Zenobia!"

"Marking your targets again?" Zenobia smirked. She was wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform with few top buttons opened revealing her obvious beauty over a thin blue dress, making her looked like a fashion model. She had long silk raven black hair. Her smirk was bewitching combined with a rather dark look in her beautiful face, "Make sure not to let them escape this year."

Lisa thanked, "Why thank you for the pep, Professor Zenobia. As the president of the HANDSOME Duelists club, I'll make sure this second year is successful one."

Zenobia smiled, "So what caught your fair eyes?"

A Von Schroeder!" Lisa exclaimed but then scowled, "But an Osiris Red girl was all touchy-closey with him."

"Oh?" Zenobia asked, "Can I see?" Vanessa offered the pink binoculars, "Thank you." She peeked through the binoculars, "Oh, I know this girl."

"You do?" Lisa was stunned, "How come Professor Zenobia know a dropout?"

Zenobia chuckled as she returned the binocular to Vanessa, "This dropout is a special one. She's the only student who got accepted into Duel Academy without taking any exams."

"What? You mean that girl!" Lisa pointed to Izumi. Zenobia nodded once. Lisa then glared, "A girl like her is a disgrace to all duelists!"

* * *

Izumi left the Duel Academy and headed back to Osiris Red dormitory. She walked across the wooden planks and sighted Tsubaki stepped out of his dorm in his uniform, "Tsubaki!" She waved.

Tsubaki turned his head and saw Izumi, "Hey!"

Izumi rushed up to him and then her nose twitched as she smelled something offensive. She quickly covered her nose, "Phew! Tsubaki, you smell like rotten fish!"

"Seriously?" Tsubaki sniffed himself, "Aw man! No matter how many times I washed myself, I can't get rid of the stench, damnit!"

Izumi suggested, "Try a different soap," she asked, "By the way, do you know where Yuki goes?" She silently thought to herself, _'No matter how rude he is, I still own him for what he did.'  
_  
"That cold hearted roommate of mine?" Tsubaki asked, "How am I supposed to know? He hasn't come back yet."

"In that case, I'll go look for him." Said Izumi.

"I'll help but that's just because I have some business with him I need to deal with!" Tsubaki smacked his fists with eyes on fire.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "………….Tsubaki…."

* * *

Kurai was sitting on the warm beach sand, facing the ocean waves that fell and nearly reached his feet. He looked at the clear blue ocean with bright sun shining above. His amber eyes were expressed with hidden thoughts. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sea breeze and the sounds of the crashing waves until….

"Yuki!"

"Hey Yuki!"

Two annoying distractions were searching for him. Kurai twitched and looked up from the rocky barrier that stood between him and the sandy beach. He saw Izumi and Tsubaki yelling for his name, _'Damnit, so much for my quiet spot.'_

Izumi sighed, "Wonder where he could be?" She looked at the ocean.

"Knowing him," Tsubaki shrugged, "He's probably someplace secluded and quiet!"

"Really?" Izumi asked.

"Um not sure but all cold guys act like that, don't they?" Tsubaki pointed out.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "I guess."

"Izumi Kitamori!"

"Huh? Who's calling me?" Izumi looked back and turned pale white at this shocking sight.

Suddenly, everything became dark and spotlights were heading toward a theater curtains. The curtain rose, revealing another curtain. The second curtain split in half, revealing another curtain. The third curtain………Oh stop it with the curtains damnit! The narrator ripped all the curtains apart.

"My curtains! You're going to pay for that!" Lisa yelled at the narrator while two Osiris students just gaped at her with a blank look and a long uncomfortable silence. Lisa coughed and cleared her throat, "It is I who called your name, Izumi! I am Lisa Romaro, the Elite of Obelisk Blue and the president of the Hunky, Attractive, Noble, Dangerous, So Magnificent, Elegant Duelist club!" She made a dramatic heroic pose on top of the rock while Vanessa was throwing rose petals at her.

Izumi just blinked. She blinked again. She blinked for the third time, "What the hell? And what's with the hunky, something, something, club?"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Goes to show that there are all types of people here, including crazy people."

Izumi noticed Vanessa, "So, who are you?"

Vanessa blinked, "Um…I'm Vanessa."

Izumi smiled, "I'm Izumi! Nice to meet you!"

Vanessa smiled back, "Likewise!"

"Vanessa!" Lisa yelled with red twitching vein on her head, "Have you forgotten our mission?" Lisa pointed accursedly at Izumi, "I will never forgive you, farm country girl!"

Izumi was shocked, "Huh? Never forgive me for what? I never met you!" Then she blinked and glared back, "And, I'm not a farm country girl! I came from New York!"

Lisa blinked with her fake eyelashes, "You came from the Big Apple?"

Izumi nodded.

Tsubaki shrugged, "So am I."

Lisa was silent for few seconds. She thought to herself, _'Well that was unexpected, usually New York is quite an expensive city.'_ She asked, "Where do you live?"

Izumi answered, "I lived in a small apartment."

Lisa mouthed Ohhhh and then laughed snobbishly, "Ho! Ho! Ho! I lived in the mansion in Beverly Hills, you poor city girl!"

Izumi's forehead vein twitched, "I have a name, you know."

"Go back to your dirty pigsty apartment," Lisa ordered, "You don't belong here, poor city girl."

"Don't belong here!" Vanessa repeated.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Izumi roared.

"It's precisely what I mean. This academy is only for elites, not dropouts like you." Lisa explained, "Now leave this island peacefully."

"Who you're calling a dropout?" Izumi shouted.

Lisa smirked, "Vanessa!" She snapped her fingers.

Vanessa took out a pink notebook, "Izumi Kitamori. Age: 15. Took the Written Exam and earn the rank of 80. However, she failed to take the Dueling Exam."

"And the Dueling Exam is nothing compared to the Written Exam. It takes more than basic knowledge to become a duelist!" Lisa declared, "Since you didn't take the Dueling Exam, You're a cheater!" A gigantic sign of the huge printed word, Cheater appeared behind Izumi who gasped.

Tsubaki interfered, "Hey, wait a minute, Izumi is not a cheater!" He punched the sign down.

"Thanks, Tsubaki." Izumi glared at Lisa, "That's right! I'm not a cheater!"

"Care to explain how you got accepted into this Academy without dueling?" Lisa crossed her arms.

"I….." Izumi couldn't answer. It was true that she hasn't taken the duel exam because she was late. She was only accepted because of Alexander's interference and the duel that Yuki Kurai had with Professor Tyrell.

"Lot of people had worked hard to pass the dueling exam to be accepted to this Academy. If you have not taken the exam and somehow came here!" Lisa spoke with disgust, "Then you are mocking all the duelist's hard work!"

Vanessa supported her comment, "Yeah!"

Izumi looked down with shame, "I…."

Tsubaki looked at Izumi with sincere concern, "Izumi, don't listen to them!"

"Now go back to where you belong! You cheating city……………" Lisa stopped yelling.

Izumi was surprised as a familiar teenager stood in front of her, "Yuki!"

"That cold hearted stiff bastard!" Tsubaki yelled.

Kurai twitched.

Few minutes later, a blood curling scream was heard as Tsubaki was thrown into the ocean and Izumi just sweat-dropped.

Lisa just stood there as she was daydreaming. Her eyes were quivering as she stared at the handsome teenager. She slowly raised her hands and clasped them firmly as her eyes were replaced by pink hearts, "Cutie!" She was on Cloud Nine, _'Oh thank you God for this wonderful fateful meeting. My heart is truly on fire. He could be the one!'_ Wedding bells were played as Lisa appeared in wedding dress and Kurai was in a black tuxedo, _'We'll get married and have children! I can imagine it now,'_ Lisa and Kurai were holding children in their arms, _'and we'll live happily ever after just like out of the romance mangas!'  
_  
"Idiot." Kurai insulted Lisa and her sweet fantasy gained a ripping sound.

Kurai continued, "I don't like idiots like you." Her sweet fantasy was torn even more.

"The way you kept blabbering pissed me off." Lisa's fantasy was finally torn into half as she mentally screamed Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Vanessa sweat-dropped as she held the torn pieces of Lisa's fantasy artwork, "…it was an accident." Vanessa walked up to Lisa and whispered to her ears, "Lady Lisa, this is Kurai Yuki, the duelist that beaten Professor Tyrell."

Lisa gasped, "Seriously?" She quickly gave her model's smile, "You're Lord Kurai, right? I heard of your brilliant duel with the Professor. I'm in awe of your incredible dueling power."

"Pathetic." Kurai insulted Lisa, "The way you kept barking around things without lifting a finger makes you a loser."

Lisa gasped, "A loser? I was just admitting the truth. You deserve to be elite not this city girl who had cheated by not taking the exam!"

Kurai gave his infamous cold glare at Lisa who cringed. He declared, "I'm the reason why this ditz got accepted here. If she's a cheater, then," He narrowed his eyes, "Are you calling me a cheater?"

Izumi twitched, _'Ditz?_' But she couldn't help but smiled, _'Well he did stood up for me.'_

Lisa quivered, "Of course not! Right, Vanessa?" She quickly hid behind her aide.

Vanessa nodded frantically.

"Huh? It seemed my secret spot is found." A young voice chuckled.

All three girls went Huh and quickly looked at the intruder while Kurai doesn't give a care because he needs to find another well hidden spot.

The three girls saw another male teenager but this time, he's different. He had an average build with long sleeved white sweater and gray jeans. How he managed to wore those warm clothes on the beach without sweating was a mystery. His face shown that he came from Korea. He had messy dyed golden yellow hair being held up by bandana headband with patterns of gold and black. He also wore sunglasses over his eyes.

"Kyon Hyun-ki?" Lisa shouted his full name.

"Kyon?" Izumi asked.

The boy with sunglasses glanced at the Obelisk Blue girls, "Lisa and Vanessa, what are you girls doing here? Causing trouble again?" He chuckled.

"Oh no, of course not, Lord Hyun-ki!" Lisa was lying, "No trouble whatsoever! I just wanted to welcome these new duelists to our school! Right, Vanessa?"

"Yes!" Vanessa answered on Lisa's order.

"Really?" Hyun-ki smirked, "Do you know what I dislike more than troublemakers?"

"Um….Um…." Lisa looked at Vanessa for an answer.

Vanessa replied meekly, "Dropouts?"

Hyun-ki's smirk grew wider, "No. Liars." His voice was dripping with toxic.

Both Obelisk Blue girls sweat-dropped and gulped.

Lisa gasped, "Oh no, I forgot to send a letter to Daddy about my stay here! I gotta go!" She ran off instantly, leaving smoke behind.

Vanessa blinked and stuttered, "I…I…I gotta go with her!" She went after Lisa, "Miss Lisa, wait for me!"

Lisa replied, "It's every woman for herself!"

Hyun-ki just laughed as he stared at the clowns running off, "Those two always caused troubles."

"Kyon?" Izumi caught his attention and she bowed, "Thank you for sending them off."

"No prob. And call me Hyun-ki. Kyon is my family name." Hyun-ki asked, "And you are?"

"Kitamori Izumi!" The maroon-haired girl saluted.

"Kitamori Izumi?" Hyun-ki questioned, "Are you the special duelist that got accepted without taking the exam?"

Izumi twitched, "How does everyone know about that?"

Hyun-ki replied, "Rumors spread very quickly." He averted his sight to Yuki Kurai, "……….And you are?"

Kurai just glared and didn't answer.

Hyun-ki frowned but slowly became a smirk, "Not much of a talker, are you? Quite rude but…I believed that you let duel speaks the language, am I right?"

"You read my mind." Kurai replied.

Hyun-ki chuckled, "So you can talk, after all. Fine, I'll accept the challenge."

Izumi blinked, "Huh?" And her eyes widened as Hyun-ki took out two duel disks and tossed one to Kurai, "Duel? But you guys just met!"

"Izumi, do you ever have the feeling of wanting to fight this person, even though you just met?" Hyun-ki put his deck and activated his duel disk.

Izumi replied, "I guess."

Hyun-ki smirked excitedly, "That's what I'm feeling right now."

Kurai just put his E-Merc deck in his duel disc.

Izumi glanced at Kurai, "Yuki, you're not serious!"

Kurai just activated his duel disk, ignoring her as usual.

Izumi just gaped and she looked at Hyun-ki. She crossed her arms and growled, "Boys!"

**Part A end**


	3. 2B: The Beginning of A New Year

**Author's Note: **I like to mention again that this story took place 5 years after the ceremonial battle. The reason for this is that I want to keep certain characters young instead of being adults at 10 years. This chapter will have an anime character from the original Yugioh. Also, to make the story flow more smoothly, I now put cards effects at the end of this chapter. Instead, when someone use a card, I used (M1) for monster, (S1) for magic, and (T1) for trap. If you use Ctrl + F, this will bring you to the card's effect at the end of the page and also bring you back to the middle of the chapter. I hope you enjoy it and review is always appreciated.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX or Yugioh! Credit goes to falsememories and YGO for translations of GX Episode 2.

* * *

**Episode 2 Part B**

An image appeared on the screen showing Kurai with his monster, E-Merc Blazing Windman. At the bottom right corner shows the official logo of Yugioh GX!

Kurai blinked, "What the hell?"

"I have to do it! It made it seem likes an episode!" The narrator explained.

Kurai scoffed, "Pathetic." He walked away and the Narrator just turned to stone out of shock.

Near the secluded beach was a tall stone cliff and on the edge of that cliff was a man in the age of mid-thirties fishing. He had a knowing smile with hint of gentleness and his eyes were closed as he was completely relaxed and carefree. He had short platinum blonde hair under his worn straw hat. He wore a loose white buttoned shirt with few top buttons unbuttoned over his beige shorts. For some odd reason, he was holding a duel monster card between his teeth, probably trying to follow a classic fisherman who chewed on a piece of weed. He was humming to himself as he was enjoying the peace and quiet.

"Fish guy!" A cheeky voice called out for him.

Until it was rudely interrupted. The mid-age man stopped humming and looked back to see who it was.

It was a small teenage girl was standing there with her arms crossed. She wore turquoise Duel Academy jacket over her small dark skirt. She had small average childish build that was still developing. She had a sharp intelligent expression on her face with hint of childlike nature. She wore blue-lens half glasses over her cute blue eyes. She had long blonde hair that was tied into two pigtails held by red beaded hair bands. She was frowning, "Hey, Fish guy! How long do you tend to slack here?"

The fisherman pouted. He grabbed the card out of his mouth and corrected, "It's not Fish Guy! It's Fisherman!" He sniffled, "My darling Rebecca could at least remember that."

Rebecca's right eyebrow twitched out of great annoyance when the fisherman called her a darling. She countered, "Fisherman, Fish guy, loser who never caught a fish for years, same difference." She corrected, "And it's not Rebecca! It's Professor Hopkins!

Fisherman whined, "But you're too young and too cute to be a mean old professor."

Rebecca's forehead vein twitched next.

Fisherman complained, "Plus Rebecca sound so much cuter than Hopkins…I can say cute Rebecca, little Rebecca, sweet Rebecca…"

Rebecca clenched her fist and gritted her teeth roughly, "I have a master's degree!" She punched the fisherman's head from behind, "And the way you said my name, it makes my skin crawl!" She shuddered.

Fisherman had river of tears falling from his closed eyes as he had a large bump on his head that was giving smoke, "Rebecca is so cruel to me…"

Rebecca sighed annoyingly, "I could have work in a different Duel Academy, you know?"

"Oh? So you rather work at the North where it's cold all year round and not to mention, there's only men there." Fisherman rubbed his chin, "Then there's the West Academy, you can work under Professor Viper and do all those cool Survival duels!" He raised his finger, "Finally, there's the East……………well…I supposed it's nice?...………eh, I really don't know a thing." He shrugged as he went back to fishing.

"Hmm," Rebecca noted, "There's always Duel Academia but all the positions are taken." She rolled her eyes as she groaned, "So I'm stuck with this deadbeat who wouldn't go back to work!"

"Oh relax, Hopkins," Fisherman suggested, "If you're so bored, why not watch a duel down there?"

"A duel?" Rebecca looked down, "That's Hyun-ki, the second year duelist. What's he doing out here? Hmm? And whose he dueling against?"

Fisherman shrugged, "I don't really know…" He smirked slightly, "But I think it's going to be interesting this year."

* * *

Izumi was complaining about something about men and their competitive nature until she heard sloshing footsteps. She quickly recognized the sounds and looked toward the noise, "Hey, Tsukai…erk..." A huge bead of droplet formed in her head.

The spiked hair duelist appeared soaking wet with fishes stuck inside his clothes, wagging their tails. Tsubaki glared, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" A volcano just erupted, "I hate fishes!" He tossed all the fishes back to the ocean, "Do you know how hard it is to remove the fishy smell?"

Izumi waved her hand, blowing the strange odor away from her nose, "I can smell."

Tsubaki glared at Kurai, "Damn you!" He blinked as all the rage was gone and noticed another person. He glanced toward Izumi, "Izumi, what's happening here and who's that guy?"

Izumi explained, "That guy is Hyun-ki and they just met and now they suddenly wanted to duel with each other! Honestly, what is it with men and their stupid desire to compete?"

Tsubaki pouted, "Hey…"

Izumi responded, "No offense, Tsubaki."

"None taken," Tsubaki replied as he crossed his arms, watching the duel.

Suddenly, two scoreboards of 4000 Life Points were on display by the hologram systems.

Hyun-ki: 4000. Kurai: 4000.

"I'll go first. Draw!" The sunglasses teenager slowly touched his deck and drew the card, making his total number six in his Hand, "Hmmm…" Hyun-Ki was slowly thinking as he was trying to make a choice, "Ahh. Perfect. I summon this warrior in attack mode." A handsome fighter jumped out to the Field and landed in a tai chi pose. The fighter had long dark hair tied up in a thin ponytail. He wore his red Chinese robe with white overalls. He had flaming bird-like designs over his legs and arms, [M1(1700/1400)] "I end my turn."

"No face down cards to protect it? Weird…" Tsubaki scratched his head, "I wonder what kind of strategy this guy used?"

Izumi was pondering, 'This is weird. For some reason, his actions seemed slow compared to regular duelists. Plus he didn't shout the monster's name.' She noticed Hyun-Ki moving his hand over his Hand, 'What is he doing?' She glanced at Kurai who once again had a bored expression.

However, his expression slowly changed into frown.

Izumi noticed the change, "Yuki is angry?"

"Angry?" Tsubaki asked.

"Yeah…he seemed really angry for some reason."

"I wonder why?"

Kurai just drew his card and he looked at his Hand silently and grabbed one card, "I summon E-Merc Bolt Assassin [M2(1600/1000)] in defense mode." He slammed the card down on the duel disk and a lightning struck the ground, creating a warrior made of yellow shocking electricity. The electric warrior raised his shocking arms, drawing in magnetic metallic blue armor pieces from numerous directions. Blue metallic armors have attached to his feet, his hands, his body, and finally his head, covering it entirely with its cool looking justice helmet. Afterwards, skeletal wings made of gold metal attached to his back. The electric assassin sent energy to his skeletal wings, creating blue laser wings. The warrior knelled down on his knee and his laser wings powered down, "I put one card face down." He inserted the card into the duel disk and M/T card appeared on the field, "I finish my turn."

"Defending your monster with a facedown card, huh? Wonder what should I do? Hmmmm." Hyun-Ki pondered as he scratched his chin while thinking.

"How about draw?" Kurai suggested sarcastically.

"Why, of course, thank you for reminding me." The Korean duelist drew his card and waved his hand over six cards in his Hand.

Izumi thought to herself, _'He's doing that again.'_

"Man, he sure is slow!" Tsubaki commented.

Hyun-Ki finally decided his move, "You know what. I order the Crimson Fighter to attack your defending monster." The fighter quickly ran across the sandy beach and jumped high into the sky above Kurai's monster.

"There seemed to be more actions than the duels in Japan." Izumi noticed, "Considering monsters just run across the Field."

"What can I say? We Americans love violence." Tsubaki shrugged as he drained the water from his shirt.

The fighter soon dived with his foot headed toward the assassin. Kurai narrowed his eyes and pressed the button on his duel disk, "I play my facedown card, Reflecting Shield!" [T1] Kurai's facedown card revealed itself, showing a picture of a bearded general holding a circular shield that pushed the reptilian warrior with exploding force, "I negate the attack of your fighter!" As the fighter was about to kick, his feet came in contact with a barrier surrounding his Bolt Assassin. The barrier sent the opponent's monster back to his original spot, "Not only that, I deal damage to your Life Points of half of the ATK of your monster." The barrier suddenly formed into energy arrows that struck Hyun-Ki, creating a small explosion.

Hyun-Ki: 4000 – 850 = 3150. Kurai: 4000.

"Also, your battle phase is over." Kurai put his trap card to the graveyard.

"Very impressive," Hyun-Ki commented, "But it's now Main Phase 2 and I haven't summoned a monster yet. I summon this card in defense mode!" He placed a card horizontally on his duel disk. A dark brown-haired warrior materialized on the field. He wore entirely brown wizard robe with torn edges on his overalls. The chest area of the robe was decorated with black circular pattern. He had a golem-faced mask covering half of his face. He quickly crouched down in defensive position. [M3] "I also put one card face down." A card appeared on his M/T zones on the Field, "Then I finally ended my turn."

Suddenly, the Crimson Fighter of the South's effect activated, his initial attack strength decreased from 1700 to 850. The fighter was glaring at the sorcerer who in return by sweat-dropping. Also the Grey Shaman of North's effect activated too, two of Hyun-Ki's monster zones cannot be used. Two glowing monster zones on Hyun-Ki's duel disk had lost their light, showing that he cannot use those zones.

"What kind of monsters are those? Filled with bad effects or something?" Tsubaki questioned.

Hyun-Ki moved slightly, "Hmm, do I just hear my monster's ATK decreasing?"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Um yeah, dude. Isn't that pretty obvious?"

Hyun-Ki laughed, "I apologized. I always spaced out every once in a while."

"Huh, really?" Tsubaki replied, "I guess that explains why you're so slow."

Hyun-Ki laughed at his comment, "That's the reason!"

Izumi asked, "How come your fighter's ATK decreased and your two monster slots sealed?"

A familiar calm voice explained, "That's the effects of Hyun-Ki's rare monsters."

Izumi turned her head back. She gasped, "Eh? Alexander? Er….I mean Alex!"

Alexander just smiled, "Hi there."

Tsubaki asked, "You know that guy's monsters' effects?"

Alexander nodded and then explained, "That fighter came from the South and the shaman came from the North. His deck consisted of special fighters that came from the four directions. Now, each of his monster card's four effects only activates when there's other monster on the Field that are from the four directions. You follow?"

Izumi moaned as her mind was slowly following, "I think so…about Hyun-Ki's monster has four effects?"

Tsubaki realized, "Ah, those four effects depended on what directions the other monsters are from, right?"

Alexander smiled, "Correct. The Crimson Fighter of South has negative effect when there's monster from the North. His ATK strength was cut in half. The Grey Shaman of North has negative effect too when there's monster from the South. Two of his monster slots are now sealed." His smile widened, "Got that, Yuki?"

Kurai narrowed his eyes coldy, "Hmph." He crossed his arms and turned away. He refused to admit that he did listen.

Hyun-Ki laughed, "You're right. You really did your research. Your name is Alex, right?" He smirked, "Could you be Alexander Von Schroeder?"

"You know my name." Alexander smiled elegantly, "I'm honored."

Hyun-Ki chuckled, "Heh, everyone knows your name. You're the first year prodigy of Obelisk Blue."

"By the way," Tsubaki stared at Alexander suspiciously, "Where did you come from?" He asked, "In fact, how do you find us?"

Alexander smiled, "I was stalking Izumi."

Izumi blushed and gaped, "Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?"

"Just kidding." Alexander laughed.

Izumi just stood there in shock as her face regained her normal color. She frowned, "You really are evil."

Alexander answered, "I couldn't resist the chance of seeing Yuki's duel." His eyes moved to Hyun-Ki, "Plus I never expected that he would be here."

A question mark appeared above Izumi's head, "Huh?" She asked.

Alexander closed his eyes and smiled, "Never mind."

There was a long uncomfortable silence between Izumi and Alexander. Izumi decided to ignore it and continued watching the duel, _'Why is everyone so excited about Yuki? Well he did beat the Professor.'  
_  
Kurai drew his card and looked at his hand with pissed expression, "Whatever, I switch my monster into attack position," The assassin's wings powered up as he stood up into attack form, "E-Merc Bolt Assassin, attack his Fighter with Killer Lightning!" His monster flied at the speed of lightning toward the weakened fighter.

"I'm not letting that happen!" Hyun-Ki pressed a button, "I activate my facedown card, Switching Loyalties!" [S1] The magic card revealed itself, showing a picture of a black-robed fighter leaving the traditional style Japanese castle and joining medieval castle. The Bolt Assassin stopped in his track. Hyun-Ki explained, "I can switch the name of my monster to another name that I chose. I chose Grey Shaman of North and I switched his loyalty to South!" The Grey Shaman of North emitted a red light and his black robe changed into a dark red robe, "My monster now belonged to South." The fighter's strength restored to his original ATK, 1700.

Kurai gritted his teeth, "I would not attack." The Bolt Assassin went back to his original spot, "I place one card facedown." He quickly put one M/T card down, "I ended my turn."

"How come he never summons a stronger monster like Blazing Windman?" Tsubaki asked.

Alexander explained, "Clearly, he would summon it if he has the chance."

"If he has the chance?" Izumi questioned, "That means……..he has no other monsters card in his hand?"

Kurai was looking at his Hand, scowling.

"My turn," Hyun-Ki drew and again, he waved his hand over his new card, "Hmm, I switch my monster into attack mode!" He switched his shaman card vertically and the red-robed shaman stood up, "I ordered Tamahome to attack that monster!" The fighter ran across the beach and jumped high into the sky. He immediately dive and gave a crushing kick on Bolt Assassin's helmet. The assassin's helmet cracked and he exploded, sending clouds of sand.

Hyun-Ki: 3150. Kurai: 4000 – 100 = 3900.

"That's not all. Since my Shaman has switched to South, it activates Tamahome's second effect. When he destroyed a monster, he can attack again. Attack him directly!" The sand clouds vanished, revealing the fighter crouching near Kurai. The fighter jumped and delivered a powerful uppercut that sent Kurai flying. The cold duelist groaned slightly. He then glared as he quickly stood up.

Hyun-Ki: 3150. Kurai: 3900 – 1700 = 2200.

Kurai declared, "I now activate my trap card, Finish the Job!" [T2] His facedown card revealed a picture of the fat goblin yelling at the wounded flame warrior, "When an E-Merc monster get destroyed as the result of battle, my trap card allow me to bring that monster back! I special summon back my E-Merc Bolt Assassin in attack mode!" A lightning arose from the ground, revealing the shocking assassin.

"Alright Yuki!" Izumi cheered.

Tsubaki commented, "That's the same trap card he used in the exam."

Alexander just smiled, "He chose the right moment, defending himself from a weaker monster."

Hyun-Ki smirked, "I guess that means I can't direct attack you with Namame. I'll place one face card down." He inserted his card in the M/T slot of the duel disk, "Your turn."

Kurai quickly drew his card. He then played one card, "I played a magic card, Voltage Twin Daggers. [S2] This card can only be equipped to my Bolt Assassin." He inserted the card and the Bolt Assassin suddenly gained two daggers made out of pure electricity, "Then I summon E-Merc Tempest Lady [M4(1000/1000)] in attack mode!" The female warrior with sky blue armor landed on the field with her gray-feathered wings, "Now, I ordered my Bolt Assassin to attack your Fighter!"

"You know, my fighter has higher ATK power than your assassin." Hyun-Ki stated.

"That's what Voltage Twin Daggers for," Kurai countered, "When my Bolt Assassin attacks with the daggers, I can change my opponent's monster's battle position. So your fighter is now in defense!" The red-robed fighter groaned as he was forced by invisible electricity into defensive pose. The Bolt Assassin's eye covers inside the helmet glowed blood red. He charged instantly as he vanished. He suddenly appeared behind and stabbed his dagger through the fighter's body. The fighter coughed blood from his mouth and shattered into pieces.

"Also, when my Bolt Assassin destroys a monster with the daggers, I can attack again!" Kurai continued his assault, "Bolt Assassin, slay that shaman!" The Bolt Assassin suddenly tossed the second dagger at the shaman's side. The shaman's eye pupil dimmed before he shattered to pieces. The Bolt Assassin disappeared and popped in his original vacancy.

Hyun-Ki: 3150 – 400 = 2750. Kurai: 2200.

"E-Merc Tempest Lady, attack with Gale Thrust!" The Tempest Lady flapped her wings and soared across the field. She held her right arm back, letting wind flow around her arm. As she got near Hyun-Ki, she punched her right hand forward, letting a small horizontal tornado struck the duelist in the chest.

Hyun-Ki: 2750 – 1000 = 1750. Kurai: 2200.

Hyun-Ki commented as he drew his card, "You're a reckless duelist. It seemed you knew my face down card was just a ploy but I'll activate the card anyway. I play my magic card, The Afterlife of Peacock!" [S3] The magic card revealed a picture of a red peacock flying upward and the ghosts of dead soldiers were following it. The bodies of the dead soldiers were lying on the grassy field, "This magic card called the spirit of the red mythical peacock with the power of rebirth."

"Rebirth?" Izumi repeated, "Wait that means he can revive a monster from the Graveyard?"

"What's with the red mythical peacock?" Tsubaki asked.

"The red peacock would refer to Suzaku of the South." Alexander explained.

"You see, when I have a monster from West, South, East, and North in the graveyard, the peacock will allow me to special summon a token. I have two monsters card in the graveyard, I can special summon two tokens but I only needed one. I chose Crimson Fighter of South - Tamahome!" The duel disk ejected Hyun-Ki's Crimson Fighter card and a transparent red-robed righter appeared on the field, showing that his monster was a ghost. [Crimson Fighter of South – Tamahome: Fire/Warrior/4/850/700] "The token only has half of the original ATK and DEF and it doesn't have any effect." A red feather instantly appeared before Kurai and touched his duel disk, restoring his Life Points.

Hyun-Ki: 1750. Kurai: 2200 + 500 = 2700.

Hyun-Ki smiled, "The red mythical peacock is creature of benevolence, so it blessed both of us. For each token I summon, you gain 500 LPs courtesy of Suzaku."

"Why does he do that?" Izumi asked.

Tsubaki answered, "It's obvious that he's going to sacrifice the token to special summon a higher level monster to the field."

Alexander smiled, "I'm surprised that Izumi didn't think about it."

Izumi pouted, "Hey, I'm just a newbie!"

Hyun-Ki continued his turn, "I sacrifice my token to summon Avatar of Zhu Qiao!" [M5(2300/1900)] A powerful warrior appeared in magnificent sight. He was adorned in beautiful red armor with the symbol of peacock over his red robe golden long-sleeved overalls. He wore golden sash around his waist. He also had red armored boots and bracers. He had orange hair that seemed to defy gravity and a long ponytail that nearly touched the sand. He had red wings that doesn't attach to his back and seemed to be made out of marble.

Izumi and Tsubaki just gaped, "Woah."

Alexander smiled as usual.

"The Avatar of Zhu Qiao too has four effects but luckily, there are no other monsters here to trigger it but I'm still going to attack! Avatar of Zhu Qiao! Attack his E-Merc Bolt Assassin!" Hyun-Ki ordered, knew that he must get rid of the deadly Voltage Daggers. The warrior took flight to the sky and his arms started glowing orange. The avatar was all charged up and fired a concentrated beam of melting heat. The beam made a hole in the Bolt Assassin's armor and created a flaming pillar that consumed the mercenary. The burning heat caused Kurai to lose his Life Points.

Hyun-Ki: 1750. Kurai: 2700 – 700 = 2000.

Hyun-Ki smiled, "I end my turn. Do you think you can go on?"

Kurai just growled and drew his card.

"By the way…when are you going to play with your full strength?" Hyun-Ki revealed.

"Eh?" Izumi and Tsubaki were surprised.

Tsubaki confirmed, "Hey…are you saying that Yuki wasn't dueling with his full strength?"

Alexander smiled, "I knew that too."

Izumi glanced at Alexander surprisingly, "You knew too? When?"

Kurai scoffed, "There's no joy in winning if you're giving me a handicap."

Hyun-Ki's eyebrows rose as he was taken back, "You noticed?" He smiled, "Heh, you really are an interesting duelist. You noticed it from the beginning, huh? That's why you gave me a handicap too."

Tsubaki was confused, "Both of them gave each other handicaps? What's going on?"

"Hyun-Ki!"

Everyone blinked and they slowly turned their head toward the noise. They saw a tall guy with a very athletic build. From the look of him, he seemed to be in his almost late teens. He had blazing red eyes with orange red hair that almost looked like flame. He wore an orange t-shirt above his black jeans. He was yelling, "What the hell were you doing?" His voice was full of anger and concern.

"Who's he?" Tsubaki asked.

"I don't know." Izumi answered.

Hyun-Ki sweat-dropped, "Ah crap, Kwang found me." He mentioned his name, "Sorry about this but I have to go." He turned off the duel disk and the holograms disappeared, "You can keep the duel disk. It was fun," He smirked, "Yuki." He rushed off to the tall guy and talked to him. Kwang was yelling at him while Hyun-Ki sweat-dropped. He tried to calm him down but that just made Kwang smack him in the head.

* * *

Rebecca, who was standing on the cliff, had watched the entire duel, "Well, I'm glad I get to see something interesting…….though I wish I could see the results." She put her hands above her waist, "Well, Fish Guy, are you going back to the office now?" She looked back just to see blinking signs indicating that he's gone. There was a long silence as the wind just blew past by. Rebecca snapped, "He ran away! That lazy slacker!" She ran back to the Academy.

* * *

"Yuki!" Izumi rushed up to him, "That was awesome duel even though Hyun-Ki left."

"Yeah," Tsubaki teased him, "He was about to clobber your butt."

"Tsubaki!" Izumi reprimanded Tsubaki.

Tsubaki stepped back, "What? He's the one who thrown me into the ocean two times! Plus you seen that guy! He had a stronger monster on the Field."

Alexander pointed out, "Well Hyun-Ki is one of the Obelisk Blue."

There was a long uncomfortable silence.

Tsubaki and Izumi's eyes turned wide as dinner plates and their jawbones dropped, "Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?"

Izumi was stunned, "Yuki was dueling an Obelisk Blue?"

Tsubaki was stunned too, "Man, then the cold hearted stiff bastard would definitely lose!"

Alexander just smiled as he enjoyed their shocked expressions, "Actually, I believed that Yuki would won." His eyes moved to Kurai, "If Yuki didn't give a handicap."

"Hmph," Kurai just looked away.

"That's right, both of them were giving handicap." Izumi pointed, "So Yuki would have won?"

Tsubaki retorted, "He meant Yuki would win if he didn't give handicap while that Obelisk Blue guy gave handicap. So in other words, that guy would have beat Yuki's butt if he didn't give handicap."

Alexander chuckled, "Hyun-Ki had to give handicap."

Tsubaki blinked, "What do you mean?"

Alexander chuckled more, "It's not my place to say."

Izumi took a look at Kurai's hand and her eyes widened as she saw E-Merc Flame Barbarian, Polymerization, and Battle Coliseum in Kurai's Hand, "Yuki, how come you never use these all along?"

Kurai looked away and shrugged, "Something came up"

* * *

Hyun-Ki was walking along beside Kwang who seemed to be much taller than him.

Kwang complained, "You scared me! Don't just go off like that without telling us!"

Hyun-Ki chuckled and apologized, "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to make you guys miss me so much."

Kwang's eyebrow twitched, "You don't sound sincere."

Hyun-Ki laughed, "I'm sincere! Really! Woah!" He suddenly tripped over a rock on the sand. He quickly pushed himself up and spat out sand, "Why is there a rock there?"

Kwang crossed his arms as he looked away, "I don't know. It was just there."

"It was just there, my ass! I completely memorized the path! There shouldn't be a rock…." Hyun-Ki stared at Kwang suspiciously, "You put it there on purpose, didn't you?"

"Maybe." Kwang replied.

Hyun-Ki just stared at the taller guy for few seconds. He then covered his face and sobbed hysterically, "My own friend tried to kill me!"

"It's your fault for leaving without telling us!" Kwang sighed annoyingly, "You knew that you shouldn't duel in that condition!"

Hyun-Ki stopped the waterworks, "Yeah, I know. But I just couldn't help it……there was something about him that makes me want to duel….and I'm glad I did…" He moved his head toward Kwang's view, "He gave me a hard time."

"Well if you recovered fully, it would be much easier." Kwang frowned.

"Nah," Hyun-Ki removed his sunglasses, "I believed he already knew about my condition." He had bandages over his both eyes, indicating that he's blind, "That's why he gave me a handicap." Hyun-Ki had flashbacks of his recent duel, _'He knew it all along. That's why he limited himself by only playing one Magic/Trap card per turn. Yuki Kurai…he's definitely an interesting duelist! We'll duel again one day!' _

_

* * *

_

Later that night, at Duel Academia.

Sho pushed Judai away from the Dueling Arena in time before the security came to expel them. The shorter boy managed to push Judai all the way outside the school building where an Obelisk Blue girl, Asuka, was waiting.

Asuka smirked, "Really, you're very troublesome."

Judai pouted as he was very disappointed that he didn't get to finish his duel with Manjoume. He insulted her, "Busybody."

Sho smiled nervously, "Thank you, Asuka-san." Since it was Asuka who warned them about the security.

"How is it?" Asuka turned her head toward Judai, "How do you feel about the welcome of Obelisk Blue?"

Judai closed his eyes and boasted, "It's alright. I thought I could continue a bit."

Asuka walked up to him, "Is that so?" Judai glanced at her, "If there were no distractions, you won't need to lose your most important card according to the Ante Rule now?"

Judai smiled, "No, I won that duel." He revealed the card he drew.

Asuka gasped as she saw it was Monster Reborn. She knew right away, if Judai used it, he would revive E-Hero Flame Wingman and defeat Manjoume in a duel. She noticed Judai smirked as he knew that he would have win. He walked away.

"Aniki!" Sho quickly followed Judai.

Asuka stared at Judai as he continued walking away, _'That kid, he's pretty interesting.'_ She smiled.

* * *

**TBC**

**Izumi: **I can't believe that Yuki was dueling the Obelisk Blue this whole time.

**Tsubaki: **Blah, he's not that great! Beside aren't you getting tired of watching him duel all the time?

**Izumi: **Nah, I don't think so. I actually enjoyed it. Wait a minute! Why is the television screen showing me all of the sudden? Why am I in trouble? What about Yuki?

**Tsubaki:** I guess you're going to duel next. Cool! I want to see what kind of deck you have!

**Izumi: **Eh? I'm dueling next! Why am I dueling next?

**Tsubaki:** Heh, you just have to find out in the next episode!

**Next Episode: Episode 3 – The Heroine's Strong Will**

**Izumi: **But I don't want to find out!

* * *

**Strongest Card of the Duel**

**Alexander: **This chapter's strongest card is the Avatar of Zhu Qiao. A powerful six-star warrior with four positive effects that correspond to the four cardinal directions. If there were other monsters on the field, Yuki might have lost.

**Izumi: **Zhu Qiao, Zhu Qiao, it sound like a strange name.

**Alexander: **Zhu Qiao is actually a Chinese name of Suzaku.

**Izumi: **You mentioned Suzaku again. It's a red peacock, right? You know, that name sound awfully familiar.

**Alexander smiled: **It should be familiar. Suzaku is the red peacock of the South. He's one of the four legendary birds.

**Izumi: **The four legendary birds!

**Alexander: **That's right. There's White Flamingo of the West.

**Izumi gaped: **A white flamingo?

**Alexander: **And then there's Blue Turkey of the East

**Izumi gasped: **A blue turkey? But normally, a flamingo is pink and a turkey is brown!

**Alexander smiled: **And a peacock is normally blue. I know, they're very special birds. And finally, to the north is a black kangaroo!

**Izumi gasped: **A black kangaroo! Wait a minute…that's not a bird! Wait, they're all lies, aren't they?

**Alexander laughed in the background.**

**Izumi: **Alex!

* * *

**Cards used in Duel**

M1 – **Crimson Fighter of South – Tamahome: Fire/Warrior/4/1700/1400**: Effect: When any other monster that has the following "name" is on the field, this card gains the effect:  
West: Negate the effect of the effect monster that this card destroys.  
South: When this card destroys an opponent's monster as a result of battle, this card can attack one more time.  
East: This monster cannot attack.  
North: Decrease this card's attack strength by half.

M2 - **E-Merc Bolt Assassin: Light/Warrior/4/1600/1000**

M3 - **Grey Shaman of North – Namame: Earth/Spellcaster/4/1200/1600**: Effect: When any other monster that has the following "name" is on the field, this card gains the effect:  
West: Select two of your opponent's monster card zones. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, the selected zones cannot be used. North: Select one of your opponent's monsters and switch it to defense mode. You may use this effect once per turn.  
East: Select two of your monsters and switch them into defense mode. You must this effect once per turn.  
South: Select up to two of your monster card zones. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, the selected zones cannot be used.

M4 - **E-Merc Flame Berserker: Fire/Warrior/3/1200/900**

M5 - **Avatar of Zhu Qiao: Fire/Warrior/6/2300/1900**: Effect: When any other monster that has the following "name" is on the field, this card gains the effect:  
West: Negate the effect of the effect monster that this card destroys.  
South: Increase this card's attack strength by 500.  
East: The control of this card does not change.  
North: When this card destroys an opponent's monster as a result of battle, this card can attack one more time.

S1 - **Switching Loyalties - Instant Magic**: Change the name of a monster with "name" [West], [South], [East], [North] into another "name" [West], [South], [East], [North] except its original name.

S2 - **Voltage Twin Daggers – Equipment Magic**: This card can only be equipped to [E-Merc Bolt Assassin]. When this card declares an attack, you can change the battle position of 1 face-up monster on your opponent's side of the field. If this card destroyed your opponent's monster as a result of battle, it can attack once again in a row.

S3 - **The Afterlife of Peacock – Magic**: Special Summon a token of a monster with [West, South, East, North] in its name that is Level 4 or below in the Graveyard. The token contained the same level, type, subtype of the selected monster but the effects is not copied. The token's stats equal to the half of the ATK and DEF of the selected monster. You may continue to special summon tokens if there is more Level 4 or below monsters in the Graveyard. For each token that is special summoned this way, your opponent gains 500 Life Points and you must remove the selected monster card from the Graveyard.

T1 - **Reflecting Shield – Trap**: Negate the attack of 1 of your opponent's monsters and inflict damage equal to the half of the attacking monster's ATK to your opponent's Life Points. This battle phase ends immediately.

T2 - **Finish the Job! – Trap**: Special Summon a monster with [E-Merc] in its name when it is destroyed as result of battle from the Graveyard.


	4. 3A: The Heroine's Strong Will

**Author's Note: **You know? I just recently read the Duelist Twilight chapter and never realized how very similar it is. This is an old chapter I wrote long time ago but I added some new stuff, so I hope you enjoy it.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yugioh at all. And credit goes to falsememories and YGO for their subtitles.

* * *

**Episode 3: The Heroine's Strong Will**

A week had passed since the duel between the Japanese and Korean on the beach. A new year of the Duel Academy had started and Yuki's popularity had already spread among the school about his infamous duel to the Professor and Hyun-Ki. Even though Kurai's duel with Hyun-Ki was incomplete, Kurai still strived to challenge him and beat him but Hyun-Ki was nowhere to be found. However school had started and students were attending the dueling classes and also high school courses required for graduation.

Stuck with the boredom of teachings, the students occupied their minds by thinking of new techniques, new cards, or new teachings of the skills of dueling. Everything was going great. The sun was blazing bright over the southern island. Fishes were swimming through the reefs. Seagulls were soaring through the skies. A maroon-haired girl was sleeping blissfully on her bed.

The narrator blinked, "Wait a minute. A maroon-haired girl was sleeping blissfully on her bed….while students are in class?...Izumi, you're late!"

Izumi just snored softly as she ignored the ominous voice. She whacked the narrator away as she turned in her bed.

The narrator screamed, "The cruelty!"

The sun's rays gently passed through the curtains of Izumi's windows, caressing her fair skin with the heat. The heat caused Izumi to wake up. She yawned as she stretched her arms, "Now that was a great sleep!" She quickly got off her bed, _'Gotta get ready for school.'  
_  
The narrator yelled, "You're late for school!"

Izumi already left her dorm with her wash towel.

"Stop ignoring me, damnit!" The narrator roared.

Izumi headed toward the bathhouse which location-wise was built far away from the boy's dormitory to ensure that there would no peeking. If that was not enough to stop the males, Professor Morgan threatened all males including teachers that if they attempt to peek into the bathhouse, egg rolls will be sliced. Of course, normal teachers wouldn't mean that but the boys did not want to risk their most valued possession in the strict stern rules-obsessed professor.

Izumi came out of the bathhouse, partly drenched. She smiled, "Ah! Nothing beat a cool shower in a warm morning like this."

"She's never going to listen to me, is she?" The narrator asked.

Izumi walked back to her dorm hut and she prepared her usual morning activities. She combed her hair with her hairbrush. She reached for her headpins and placed them on.

"Damnit, how do I make notice that she's late?...Oh wait I'm the narrator….I can do anything I want." The narrator smacked himself, "Duh!"

Thus the narrator put himself to work by writing that Izumi glanced at her cute clock. Izumi's violet eyes widened in shock, "!" Her scream was heard all over the island.

* * *

Tsubaki awoke abruptly from his desk which was used as pillow, "I wasn't sleeping!" Izumi's scream caused him to wake.

Kurai was sitting next to him with a bored expression. He muttered, "Idiot." He knew the scream belonged to that ditzy girl.

* * *

"Oh finally, she knew that she was late." The narrator complained.

Suddenly, Izumi slammed the door opened, flattening the narrator. She yelled, "I'm late! I'm late! I'm lateeeeeeee!" She ran off in the speed of light again.

* * *

In Duel Academia's classroom.

Asuka was answering the teacher's question, "Duel Monsters cards are made up of: Monster Cards, Fusion Monster Cards, Ritual Monster Cards, Effect Monster Cards, and finally, Trap Cards and Magic Cards. Next Trap Cards are divided into Normal Traps, Counter Traps, and Continuous Traps, while Magic Cards are divided into Normal Magic, Continuous Magic, Equip Magic, Quick Magic, Ritual Magic, and Field Magic."

Professor Chronos clasped his hands in glee, "Benissimo! (Very well!) You had no difficulty at all." He continued praising, "The question was far too simple for Obelisk Blue's Signorina (Miss) Asuka."

Asuka replied bluntly, "Because it's basic." She sat down back in her seat.

"Well then," Chronos averted his eyes toward Sho sitting next to Judai, "Signore (Mr.) Marufuji!"

Sho immediately stood up in fright, "Y-Yes!"

"Please explain Field Magic."

"Let's see…" Sho looked up as he was trying to rack his brain, "f-field magic is…." His eyes wavered as the words were not coming to his mouth, "That…it's…uh…"

Obelisk blue student teased, "Even a kindergartener knows that kind of stuff!" The Obelisk Blue students laughed except Asuka and Manjoume.

Manjoume scoffed, "Tsk."

Sho just blushed out of embarrassment while Misawa of Ra Yellow stared at him with slight disappointment.

Judai smiled, "Don't worry about it. Chill, Sho."

"How embarrassing. Prepare more," Chronos mocked as he shrugged, "You can't even answer the basics of the basics, as expected of Osiris Red." He swayed his head in disappointment, "What a surprise…" The Obelisk Blue students laughed again except the selected few.

Sho mumbled, "I already knew it, but I was too shy."

Judai smirked, "But sensei, knowledge and actual dueling ability aren't related, right?"

"Hmm?" Chronos blinked.

Judai grinned, "Because even though I'm also in Osiris Red, I won a duel against you." He scratched his hair as he was brimming with pride.

Chronos took out his handkerchief and stretched it with his teeth out of rage, "Mama mia!"

It was the Osiris Red students' turn to laugh at Chronos and cheer for Judai as he gave a "V" sign to everyone.

Asuka rested her chin atop of her arm on her desktop. She smiled while she stared at Judai with growing interest.

* * *

Back at the South Duel Academy building.

"Oh why didn't someone wake me up?" Izumi complained as she rushed in the hallway as she remembered her older sister always woke her up, "Oh yeah, huh? My older sister isn't here?" She wailed, "Why do I kept forgetting that?" She quickly burst into her classroom, "Sorry, I overslept!" Psycho theme started playing as she was stared into the eyes of a familiar angry female professor, "Ack, the psycho teach!"

Morgan raised her eyebrow, "What was that, Miss Kitamori?"

Izumi paled, "Um…did I say that out loud?"

Morgan's blood vein twitched, "If psycho teach is what you said, then yes, you did say it out loud."

Izumi turned pale white as a ghost, "Heh…eh…I'm sorry!" She bowed repeatedly, a desperate plea for the teacher's forgiveness, "I'm sorry! Please forgive me, oh beautiful, merciful, and youthful teacher!"

Morgan narrowed her eyes angrily while covered in shadows, "Flattery is not going to get you anywhere."

Tsubaki mumbled, "Good because you're not really one."

The female professor suddenly grabbed a marker from the white broad and shot it at Tsubaki's forehead. The poor guy screamed as he became unconscious with his head dropped on the desk with a loud thud. Morgan gave a minus mark next to Tsubaki's name on her clipboard, "Mr. Ryozai, I'm taking your points off for sleeping in class."

The students felt a bead of cold sweat dripping behind their neck as they were all thinking one thing, _'Scary!'_

Izumi just gaped at the female teacher's action, _'But you're the one who knocked Tsubaki out!'_

Kurai just scoffed as he didn't really care and he was secretly glad that the idiot next to him was unconscious.

"As for you, Miss Kitamori," Morgan averted her head toward Izumi with an icy stern stare, "You'll have detention after class. You'll clean the class by yourself."

Izumi gaped as she stared at the huge classroom which was a common sizes for lecture rooms in college, "The entire classroom? But that's not fair, professor! I have Dueling Class after this class!"

"Hmph, you should have thought of that when you stay up late." Morgan wrote a detention slip, "All duelists are expected to be punctual in duels and classes. If you can't even be punctual, then say farewell to your future matches because late duelists will be disqualified even if you are late for one minute."

"Well…ah!" Izumi countered, "But Professor Morgan, I thought students shouldn't miss class. So I should not miss dueling class and…" She chuckled nervously, "maybe I can just spend detention after school?"

"Don't try to argue with me." Morgan interfered, "I'm fully aware that dueling class is the only class that students here look forward to, not boring yet more education and professional classes. It wouldn't be proper detention if the trouble-making student is not reaped of its fun."

Izumi pleaded, "Professor, please! I already miss few dueling classes because of detentions! I promise I won't be late again!"

Morgan refuted, "Miss Kitamori, if you continue to display unsightly behavior, I won't hesitate to give one month's detention. This is the third time you're late for class."

"But…" Izumi looked down. She was so looking forward to having dueling class to become stronger.

"What is this? Is this some kinda lame attempt to pass class without doing anything?" said Lisa, a rich Obelisk Blue student who sitting in her desk chair gracefully.

Izumi glared at Lisa, "What do you say?" She couldn't help but dislike Lisa already from her first meeting with Lisa before school started. Right from the start, Lisa had insulted her pride and dignity and for that, Izumi just wanted to beat her.

"You heard me," Lisa accused, "I hoped you're not trying to graduate without lifting a card almost like how you get into the Academy without taking any duel exam and let someone else do all the work."

Kurai's cold eyes glanced at Lisa but he then decided not to get involved. He looked away and rested his head on his arm perched on the desk with an "I don't care" expression.

Vanessa, another Obelisk Blue girl and a loyal aide of Lisa since childhood, shouted, "It's unfair that you get to be here while thousands of people couldn't and they tried taking the exam!"

Quickly, students began to talk to each other. They realized that it was unfair that she get to be in one of the well most sought schools. Thousands had applied, many had failed the written exams, and some had failed the dueling exam. To think that a student get to be in this place without doing any work started to make their blood boil.

"Quiet!" Morgan slammed her clipboard on the podium so loud, "Must I remind the class that we're still learning history?"

The class immediately swayed their heads as they didn't want to lose points for misdemeanor and be knocked out like Tsubaki.

"And," Morgan looked at Izumi again, "And I suggest you wear a proper uniform than these clothes." She pointed to Izumi's clothes.

Izumi blinked, "Huh?" She looked at herself and realized that she was only wearing her purple pajamas with pink bunnies. She turned beet red.

Lisa teased, "What's this? Are you planning to sleep through your entire school year?" She laughed snobbishly.

Vanessa followed afterward and soon, pretty much of the entire class laughed. Izumi blushed tomato red as she tired to hide her face behind her Winged Kuriboh backpack.

* * *

After the dull History class was over, Izumi dipped her mop into the bucket of water and soap. To prevent further embarrassment, she wore her P.E. uniform. She was also given harsh lecture from Professor Morgan about being on time and never forget your uniform. She dumped the mop on the floor and wiped in certain motions. It was her dream to get accepted to the Duel Academy but lately, it just didn't feel like her dream.

"Hey Izumi!" Tsubaki greeted as he entered the classroom.

"Hey Tsubaki!" Izumi replied back, "How's the Dueling class?"

"It's heck lotta fun! You should have been there!" Tsubaki grinned and then realized what he said.

"……….yeah, I should have been there." Izumi continued wiping the floor as she looked down with disappointment.

"Sorry," Tsubaki apologized and he tried to change the subject, "Do you want to get lunch even though we get suckier food than Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue…?"

Izumi dipped her mop into the bucket, "Nah, its okay. I have to do this first." She wiped the floor.

"Do you want me to help?" Tsubaki offered, "That lady psycho is being way too harsh on you."

"It's okay, Tsubaki!" Izumi smacked his head, "Don't punish yourself because of me. I can do this! It's nothing compared to chores at home!"

Tsubaki blinked and laughed, "You're really cool and stubborn, Izumi."

Izumi smiled, "Thanks."

"How about this?" Tsubaki offered again, "I can wake you up so that way you won't be late!"

"Hmm, that's a good idea……wait" Izumi realized one thing, a guy in a girl's room. She suddenly smacked Tsubaki's head repeatedly with her mop, "You pervert! Pervert!"

"Ouch!" Tsubaki defended himself, "What the hell are you doing? I'm just trying to be nice!"

Izumi sweat-dropped and laughed nervously, "Oh heh...sorry, force of habit."

Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched as he glared at her.

* * *

At the same time, Kurai was walking around the hallways of the Duel Academy aimlessly as he had no destinations in mind. Actually, rather, he had someone in his mind. For the past week, he had been searching for the Korean duelist, Hyun-Ki. The duel he fought haunted his head and he wished to finish it badly. It was the matter of the pride of a duelist spirit inside him. Kurai glanced around as he stepped into the balcony high up on the Duel Academy. He gritted his teeth out of annoyance and decided to rest his arms on the handrails, secretly enjoying the beautiful view of the sunset.

"You're wasting your time." A stern voice caught Kurai's attention.

Kurai reacted by averting his eyes toward the owner of the voice. He quickly recognized the owner as Kwang, the guy who interrupted his duel with Hyun-Ki. He also noticed that he was dressed in Obelisk Blue Uniform that ultimately contrasted with his flaming red hair. Kurai narrowed his amber eyes and scowled, "What do you mean?"

Kwang crossed his arms and narrowed his red eyes, "You know what I mean. No matter where you look, Hyun-Ki won't come out until I say he's ready."

Kurai scoffed, "What are you? His mother?"

Kwang glared, "No, I'm a close associate with him, cocky freshman. You're only lucky that you're on par with him because he's blind but you already know that."

Kurai didn't even respond. Kwang took his silence as an agreement. Kwang continued, "…if you're going to be so insistent in dueling with him, wait till his eyes recover. Then you'll truly face his true strength. That'll be a worthy challenge for you, no?"

Kurai didn't like putting his unfinished duel on hold for who knows how long. But he knew it was true that if Hyun-Ki recovered, he'll be on his best strength and Kurai wouldn't need to hold back. The cold duelist looked away and faced the sunset. He simply answered, "Fine."

Kwang smirked slightly and he walked away but before he left. He teased, "Cocky brat." Then he finally left.

Kurai rolled his eyes.

* * *

After few hours, the Duel Academy was about to close for the day. Students were heading back to their dorms and Izumi trudged along with dripping gloomy eyes, "Tired…tired….tired…" She entered her dorm hut and collapsed on her bed, "At least I don't need to clean again tomorrow." She fell into deep slumber.

* * *

The next day, Izumi was walking to her class, "Yes, I'm not late this time!" She walked proudly across the hallway until she saw her class crowding around, "Hey, what's going on?"

The students looked at her with surprise but ignored her right away.

Izumi was confused, "Huh? Why aren't we going to our class?" She walked forward and her eyes suddenly widened and quivered at this sight. The classroom was a pigsty! There were paints all over the floors and walls. School supplies were broken and scattered all over. Izumi just stared in shock, "But…but…I…"

Students were suddenly gossiping, "Did she make this mess?" The female whispered.

"Yeah, I bet she did it because things didn't go her way!" The male student whispered.

The male student replied, "So that's why! She must have gone nuts and destroy the classroom!"

Even though students were whispering, Izumi could hear every single word, "….but…I….really….did…clean…."

Lisa was watching the entire scene with an evil smirk plastered on her face. Vanessa was behind Lisa hiding evidences in the trash cans.

"What's going on?" Morgan pushed the students aside, "Why isn't everyone seated?" She walked into the classroom. There was a long uncomfortable silence as the tension thickened. She slowly inched her head toward a certain female Osiris red student, "Miss Kitamori."

"Professor! I didn't do this! Honestly!" Izumi tried to convince her but it didn't work.

Morgan sighed disappointedly, "Do you have any proof that you didn't do this?"

Izumi gulped as she couldn't give the answer the teacher wanted. She looked down in shame, "No…I don't…"

Morgan crossed her arms, "If you have no proof that you didn't do this or cannot prove that someone else did this. I'm going to have to give you more punishment."

Izumi's eyes widened in shock. She complained. "But professor!"

Morgan held her palm up in gesture of silencing her student, "You're the most likely suspect, according to the laws you must pay for your misdeeds."

Tsubaki just came rushing in, "What the hell's going on?" He looked at the classroom, "Dang, it's like the space attack of the school supplies!"

Kurai just stared at the classroom with an expression of I don't really care.

Morgan announced, "We'll have to share the classroom with the second year. Since Miss Kitamori did not complete her job, she'll have a week's worth of detention to clean this pigsty."

Tsubaki interfered, "That's not fair. Izumi would never do this! Plus I seen her cleaned this room yesterday! You're being way too harsh and unfair!"

Morgan stared at Tsubaki, "So were you with Miss Kitamori the entire time, Mr. Ryozai?"

"Um…..not really." Tsubaki answered, "I went out to lunch…but I know she wouldn't do this!"

Morgan concluded, "Then Miss Kitamori might have mess the classroom up after you were gone then."

Tsubaki gritted his teeth and was about to snap but Izumi prevented him, "Tsubaki, stop…it's okay. I did it before, I can do it again."

"Izumi!" Tsubaki said her name with concern.

"I'll have to speak to the principal about this. Since classes are now delayed, students will have to stay in school for extra lessons." Morgan stormed off as the students groaned about this change.

Lisa smirked, "Yeah, thanks a lot. Ho! Ho! Ho!" She followed the Professor along with Vanessa. Students followed them too.

Tsubaki glared and groaned in frustrated tone, "Damnit! Izumi, why didn't you let me say anything?"

Izumi yelled back, "Because I didn't want you to be punished for me!" She looked down with her eyes hidden in shadows, "Plus if I don't this by myself, others will hate me even more because they will think I'm just some slacker who cheated her way through."

Tsubaki was quiet as his silence indicated that his female friend was right. He just groaned out of frustration and then punched the wall.

Kurai stared at the fallen girl before he walked away to follow the class.

* * *

Izumi sighed as she was wiping the wall with a wet rag, "Here we go again." She frowned, "Someone's definitely sabotaging me and I bet it's that Lisa girl. Well, I'm not letting her beat me! I can do this!" She wiped the area near the clock, "Eh?" She noticed the clock and sighed, "Dueling class is over now, huh?...Wait a minute…" She glanced at the clock. She then paled and stood there for few seconds in great shock. She then quickly ran off, crying, "I'm late for my other class!" She groaned, "Why am I always late? Onee-chan, wherever you are! Help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

* * *

Within the Duel Academy, there was another arena which was much larger than the duel arena. It was the sports arena and its insanely large size was designed to house many different kinds of playing fields. Right now, Professor Tyrell was teaching P.E. to the freshmen and they started by running the accursed mile.

Tyrell blew the whistle, "Come on, people! Pick it up! You're almost done!"

Izumi panted as she rushed in her messy P.E. uniform that she dressed in five seconds, "Sorry, I'm late! I was so busy cleaning that I didn't notice the time! I'm sorry!"

"Hey, no sweat!" Tyrell assured, "You only missed running three miles."

"Three miles?" Izumi shouted, "What happened to the standard mile?"

Tyrell laughed, "One mile is too easy! If you're going to be duelist, you gotta have extreme training!" He laughed proudly.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "P.E. is really boot camp….Maybe it's good thing I didn't run…" She then paled as she realized that the students were glaring at her. She could tell that they were cursing her for not running the miles and what a slacker she was. She grabbed Tyrell's arm, "Um…I'll run! I can run three miles!"

Tyrell refused, "Too late. We're starting sports now! Alright, people, today we're playing dodgeball!"

Izumi panicked, "But Professor Tyrell! I can run three miles! Really!" Tyrell was already picking teams for dodgeball, "Great…and by luck, I'm going to be paired with someone I hate…"

Izumi's vein twitched, "And I was right…" She was glaring at Lisa at the opposite side of the dodgeball field.

Lisa taunted, "So the dropout is trying to cheat her way through the easiest class in school, P.E. How horrible."

Izumi frowned, "I'm not cheating! And why are you here? You're Second Year!"

Lisa stated, "P.E. is the only class that all years shared together."

Izumi remarked, "Then what about that history class?"

Lisa answered calmly, "I had the choice of taking World History or American History in my first year. I took World History first, so it's only coincidence that I'm taking American history class like you."

"Then what about the classroom?"

Lisa smirked, "I'm not the one who messed up the classroom. And if I were you, I would watch your back." There were mean looking Obelisk Blue girls behind her back.

Izumi declared, "Hmph, we'll see because I'm not going to lose to you mean stupid girls!" Suddenly, a fast dodgeball was tossed at her and Izumi grabbed it with ease. She laughed haughtily, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Is that all you got? I may not be good at dueling but I'll have you know my athletic prowess is unmatched!...Eh?...Ahhh!" She screamed as rain of dodge balls assaulted her.

Tsubaki, who was on the other team, heard Izumi's scream. He sweat-dropped as he noticed Izumi's arm sticking out in a mound of red dodge balls, "Izumi!" Suddenly, a bullet-fast dodge-ball slammed Tsubaki's head so hard that he screamed out of sheer pain as he was sent tumbling out of the playing field.

The teammates gaped in horror as they looked at the shooter from the opposing team.

Kurai pulled his throwing arm back and shrugged coolly, "He was just standing there."

* * *

Unfortunately, the bullying didn't stop there. Apparently, Lisa managed to use her connections with the students and manipulated them to bully Izumi in all her classes such as this one.

In a class laboratory, the students were dressed in protective lab cloaks and standing next to set of boiling chemicals. They were listening to the teacher of the science class who was Professor Harold Schmitt, the Headmaster of Ra Yellow Boy's Dormitory. He was a handsome gentleman in his mid-thirties with his neatly combed taupe-colored hair with large bangs framing his right side. Instead of usual Ra yellow uniform, he wore a custom yellow doctor's robe. He lectured, "In science, it is important to take careful measurements. It's an absolute must because one minuscule mistake can potentially lead into disastrous results. The same rule applied in duel. If you're not careful, your mistake will lead to your loss. Now, carefully pour 3 milligram of…"

BOOM!

The students panicked and Dr. Schmitt quickly looked toward the noise. He noticed a huge black burned mark around Izumi's table and on the ceiling above her too. He frowned, "Miss Kitamori, didn't I warn you to be careful?"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Yes, you did…" She hastily growled at the female Obelisk Blue goons, possibly sent by Lisa.

* * *

For few days, Izumi have been cleaning the classroom by herself. She had worked herself to the bones and collapsed on her bed immediately after each day of detention. She trudged along the Duel Academy hallway and sighed, "When this is all over, I definitely need to work on my stamina."

"I don't think you need to. You look fine to me."

Izumi looked back at a familiar face and she greeted, "Hi, Alex."

"Oh, you're not scared of my sudden appearance?" Alexander smiled as he walked up to her.

"Yeah plus I'm too tired to make a frightful face." Izumi chuckled barely.

For the first time, Alexander frowned and his forest green eyes expressed worries, "You don't really need to do this yourself."

Izumi smiled slightly, "Thanks but I can handle it. I'm a strong girl!"

Alexander chuckled, "Of course, but you know," He smiled, "It's always okay to ask for help. It's not a sign of weakness."

Izumi nodded, "I know…but if I asked for help, I'll become entirely dependent and that's just what the bullies wanted to prove. Well, I'll prove them wrong. I'll show them I can do this by myself without any help. Let this show to the other students how determined I am to stay at Duel Academy."

Alexander smiled slightly, "I know you will. But really, just don't be afraid to ask for help."

Izumi smiled, "Thanks, Alex. Well, I'm tried. So I'm going back and get my beauty sleep."

Alexander chuckled, "Alright, I'll flee. See you soon, Izumi." He walked away.

"Okay, bye!" Izumi waved as Alexander left. She continued on the lonely dark road. She walked past couple of students.

A Ra Yellow student spoke, "Hey, isn't that the cheater?"

The second Ra Yellow student replied, "Yeah she is. Argh, I hate those types of girls. It's obvious she manipulated Yuki to fight for her."

The Ra Yellow student responded, "I totally agree. She definitely deserves the punishment. She shouldn't be here at all."

Izumi just stood there as two Ra Yellow students walked past by. Her violet eyes shook as she bit her mouth to hold in the sorrow. She slowly walked back to her dorm. By sunset, she made it back hoping that she would get plenty of rest. But she didn't get what she expected. Izumi gasped as she dropped her backpack. Her dorm hut was being graffiti with messages such as Cheater and Go back to New York, Dropout! Izumi just gaped and clenched her fists in sorrow. She caught her backpack and rushed inside her dorm. She quickly jumped into her bed, hiding her face on the pillow. Fishes and birds could hear faint sorrows coming from her hut.

* * *

On the day before the last day of her detention, Izumi was almost done, cleaning the entire room but she didn't feel like it anymore. She just sat there on one of the desks, thinking about why she came here. Days ago, she wanted to come here to become a strong duelist like her older sister but now her heart was full of pain.

Izumi remembered the past of when she was a tomboyish child and had to protect her meek older sister.

* * *

"Mess with her and you mess with me!" A six year old Izumi was yelling at random bullies who were beaten up and ran away. She looked back at a slightly taller girl who had the same colored hair and eyes as her. The girl with glasses was crying and she was rubbing her eyes. Izumi yelled, "Get a grip, Onee-chan! They're nothing!"

Her older sister sniffed, "Gomen. I didn't mean to cause trouble."

Izumi shouted, "Stop saying sorry for everything! You're three years older than me! You're supposed to watch over me, not the other way around! So stop crying!" Izumi sighed.

The older girl looked down, "Gomen."

"Stop saying sorry, onee-chan!" Izumi reprimanded her, "You need to be brave every once in a while. Tears shows weaknesses and boys will do anything to tease weak girls! So stand up and shout to the world that you're invincible!"

The older girl stopped crying as she blinked at her younger sister. She smiled and laughed softly.

* * *

Izumi rested her head on the desk, 'I always protected my older sister. I always watched over her. That time, I was strong until…'

* * *

Izumi was now 10 and she was dueling with her older sister, "I lost? Onee-chan, you're really good!"

The older sister blushed slightly out of embarrassment and stuttered, "Really?...I don't think I'm that good….I mean I think I'm still weak…And…"

"Stop saying that to yourself, it's annoying!" Izumi complained, "You really are strong! Trust me! Your stronger younger sister said so! Now be brave because you're going to rock the Dueling World!"

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?" Her older sister was surprised.

* * *

Izumi looked down, _'That time, my older sister was really good at dueling. She was the winners of local tournament. At that time, I really admire her strength and I wanted to be strong as her. That's why I came to this Academy…but now…'_ Tear splattered on the desk, "Is it really worth it, Onee-chan? I don't think I can be strong anymore." Suddenly she heard the door opened and she glanced up at a familiar boy, "Yuki?" She quickly wiped off the fresh tears.

"I just forgot my stuff." Kurai answered with careless tone.

"Oh. I actually thought you came up to check on me." Izumi chuckled, "But I should have known because you're not the type of person to do that."

Kurai was silent. He just walked to his desk and grabbed his stuff.

"You don't really care for a weakling like me…" Izumi mumbled.

Kurai stopped in his tracks.

"I must be nuisance to you, huh? After all, it was my fault that I dragged you down from Obelisk Blue to Osiris Red." Izumi continued mumbling.

Kurai looked back at Izumi.

"I'm just a weakling, am I?" Tears were streaming down from her violet eyes as Izumi cried for the first time.

Kurai's eyes widened as he glanced at the door and then glanced back at Izumi. He glanced back at the door again. He glanced back at Izumi again. He really wanted to leave this room and away from complete annoyance but……………………………………………………………he can't resist a crying girl……………..he cussed to himself for having a small shard of kindness inside that cold image.

Suddenly, Izumi felt a hand patting her head. She looked toward Kurai, who was sitting next to her in another chair.

"If you need to cry, do it. I won't tell." Kurai promised.

Izumi just stared at Kurai and his rare display of kindness. She then nodded and covered her eyes. She cried out all her harbored pains left by the cruel week of detention and student gossip.

**PART A END**

**Commercial Break!  
**  


* * *

I'm being too mean to her. Poor Izumi. I wonder if you all know whose her older sister is. Izumi's duel will be right after this commercial! Stay tuned next time! Also, a cookie to anyone who would recognize Professor Harold Schmitt!


	5. 3B: The Heroine's Strong Will

**Author's Note: **I like to point out that another anime character will appear in this chapter. She appeared in original Duel Monsters and didn't have much screen time. Now it's her turn. And since this is the duel chapter, when someone use a card, I used (M1) for monster, (S1) for magic, and (T1) for trap. If you use Ctrl + F, this will bring you to the card's effect at the end of the page and also bring you back to the middle of the chapter. I hope you like it and review will always be appreciated.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX or Yugioh! Credit goes to falsememories and YGO for translations of GX Episode 3.

* * *

**Episode 3: Part B!  
**  
Instantly an image showed Izumi with a sad little girl in a blue dress behind her. It was the Unhappy Maiden monster card. Also at the bottom right corner was the official logo of Yugioh GX!

Izumi stared at the screen and asked, "Why the Unhappy Maiden?" She pointed to it.

The narrator explained, "Because the Unhappy Maiden presents your sadness and plus aren't you happy that our cold hero comforted you?" He smirked.

Izumi blushed beet red and yelled, "Shut up!" She sent the Narrator flying with a haisen (iron fan).

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" The narrator yelled, "On with the episode!"

* * *

Izumi just piled up the garbage bags in the corner and sighed as she wiped the sweat off her head. She looked at the classroom which was still slightly messy, "There's still so much to do." She remembered what she did couple of minutes ago.

* * *

Izumi stopped making sniffling sounds as she rubbed her eyes.

Kurai noticed it, "Are you done?" He stopped patting her awhile ago.

Izumi wiped off the tears, "Yeah I am. Sulking around is not going to help me finish cleaning." She put on a forced smile, "Sorry about taking your time, I'll make it up to you next time when I get the chance, okay?"

Kurai just crossed his arms, "You don't need to."

"Oh I insist!" Izumi pleaded, "I want to thank you for helping me." She looked down.

Kurai just looked away, "I just don't like seeing someone crying."

Izumi laughed, "Well I gotta finish my cleaning. I can't let anything bother me."

Kurai looked back, "Fine." He silently left the classroom.

* * *

Izumi sighed tiredly as she picked up the mop, _'For some reason, Yuki's hand felt kind of warm,'_ Izumi blushed slightly, "Ahh, what am I thinking about? Ha! Ha! Ha!" Izumi laughed at herself as she was crazy. She smiled to herself, "He's not such a bad guy after all."

Izumi heard a door opened and without even looking back, "Yuki, if you came to help, I don't really need it!"

"…Um…I'm not Yuki." Izumi heard a girl's gentle voice.

Izumi blushed out of embarrassment and looked back just to see a Ra Yellow female student. She seemed older than Izumi with her developed body and her long sleek smooth amber brown hair. She had beautiful face that would attract many guys especially two certain older men. Her eyes were clear brown shone with naivety and experience. Izumi commented to herself, '_Wow…she's beautiful…much better than that Lisa moron with all the extra make-ups._' Izumi bowed, "I'm sorry. I thought you were one of my friends."

The older girl smiled, "It's alright. It was an honest mistake. But um…" She scratched her chin out of embarrassment, "Is this classroom 207?"

Izumi swayed her head and replied, "Um no, this is classroom 105."

"Ehh? This is the wrong classroom? Gomen for asking." The girl bowed.

"No problem." Izumi waved her hands, saying that she doesn't need to bow, '_Gomen? She must be Japanese if she says that word._'

Then Izumi noticed the Ra Yellow female's clear eyes as she was staring directly into her own violet eyes. She blushed in embarrassment, "Is there something on my face?"

The girl asked with concern, "Have you been crying?"

Izumi suddenly blushed intensely red out of complete embarrassment, '_She can tell?_' She quickly rubbed her eyes, "Um no, I just got dust in my eyes!" She doesn't like to show weaknesses to others.

The girl walked up to her and smiled gently, "Would you like to talk about it?"

Izumi looked at the older woman. She couldn't help but felt entranced under the Ra Yellow's sweet smile. She wondered if she should tell to a complete stranger but there was something about her that's telling Izumi to trust her.

"I'm really a good listener and it's more comfortable if you talk to someone of your gender right?" The girl pointed out.

Izumi does really need to say her hidden feelings and talking to a fellow gender would be really helpful. She slowly opened her mouth and started spilling everything.

* * *

Minutes later, the girl and Izumi were sitting on the top of the desks to each other.

"So your entire class is not talking to you and they said cruel words behind your back." The girl repeated and frowned slightly, "You must have a difficult time."

"Yeah," Izumi sighed frustratingly, "I thought the Duel Academy would be fun but this is definitely not it."

"Do you come here for fun?" The girl asked.

"Well…yeah…" Izumi replied honestly and then looked at the girl. She remembered her dream, "Actually…I came here so that I can be strong as my big sister!" Her violet eyes wavered with admiration, "My big sister is really powerful duelist and I respect her for that."

The girl smiled warmly, "Heh, you remind me of myself."

"You have an older sister?" Izumi asked.

"No, but I do have an older brother. Onii-san is really strong and brave. He's also self-less and helped me so many times in the past. So then, I decided myself to be strong and courageous as him." The girl smiled as she remembered that she received aid from her older brother in a certain duel.

Izumi smiled back, "So we have the same goal," She realized that the girl was looking for the right classroom, "Um..sorry for blabbering, you have class right?"

The girl swayed her hands, "Not really. I just have to meet someone but I left early just in case."

"Oh……." Izumi offered her hand, "Kitamori Izumi!"

The girl shook Izumi's hand, "Jonouchi Shizuka!"

"Nice to meet you, Shizuka-san!" Izumi replied happily.

"Likewise, Izumi-chan." Shizuka responded.

"Arghhhhhhhhh! I wish I could beat my class up! Their behavior made me furious!" Izumi slowly retained her old behavior, "they shouldn't have made fun of me and I know I could pass the dueling exam."

Shizuka pondered, "Hmmmm," She suggested, "Would you like to express your feelings through dueling?"

"Express my feelings through dueling? Huh?" Izumi was confused.

"Onii-san always told me about that you can express your desires and emotions through dueling." Shizuka explained.

Izumi was silent for few seconds as she couldn't believe her ears. She then laughed, "That's something that boys would say!"

Shizuka laughed in agreement.

Izumi answered finally, "Sure, I would like to duel."

* * *

Few minutes later, two girls were facing each other on the circular dueling stage with dueling disks on their arms.

Izumi asked, "Is it really okay to use this place?" She was in awe as she stared around the room.

Shizuka answered, "Don't worry, Rebecca will understand."

"Rebecca?" Izumi asked.

"Um, I think you probably know her as Professor Hopkins. She's intrustor of the dueling class."

Izumi sulked, "I haven't attended dueling class yet because of detentions, so I don't really know her."

Izumi smiled, "You'll like her when you get the chance to take her class." She activated her duel disk, "Let's duel."

"Hmm…Okay!" Izumi activated her duel disk too, "I'll go first! Draw!" She drew, making the total number six in her Hand. She grabbed one card and placed it on the duel disk, "I summon The Unhappy Maiden!" [**M1(1/0/100)**] A girl in a torn blue dress materialized on the field. She held a bucket of flowers and contained a sad expression on her face, "I put one card face down and end my turn!" She inserted a card into the M/T slots of her duel disk.

Shizuka blinked and asked, "Um…….are you trying to put your monster in defense mode?"

"Um…yeah…why?" Izumi countered.

Shizuka chuckled, "You put her in attack mode."

Izumi turned white and gaped. She smacked herself, "Ahhhhhhhhhh! How could I forget that?"

Shizuka laughed softly as she remembered her first duel with one of the Big 5 in the virtual reality world. Talk about a scary experience. She commented, "It's okay. Anyone make that sort of mistake. Draw." She drew her card, "I summon Goddess with the Third Eye [**M2(4/1200/1000)**] in attack mode." She placed her monster card on the duel disk and a woman appeared on the Battlefield. She was dressed in long swamp green robe with brown markings. She had white wings on the sides of her long brown hair. Her eyes were closed but the third eye above them was fully open, "I order her to attack the The Unhappy Maiden!" The Goddess's third eye moved around until it targeted the sad girl. It suddenly fired a small white beam that vaporized the poor innocent girl.

Shizuka: 4000. Izumi: 4000 – 1200 = 2800.

Izumi groaned, "I won't make the same mistake again! I play my trap card, Call of the Haunted!" [**T1**] The facedown card revealed a purple clouds coming out of the tombstones, "I bring back The UnHappy Maiden!" The sad girl came back to the field.

"I end my turn." Shizuka declared.

"Draw!" Izumi drew her card and grabbed a magic card, "I'll show you the power of my deck! I play a magic card, Magical Costume – Oni Slaying Robe!" [**S1**]

"Magical Costume?" Shizuka questioned.

Izumi answered, "You know there's always a show about innocent maidens call upon the magic power and transformed into their magical form with cute costumes? That's why my deck is about! Magical Girls!"

Shizuka smiled, "Wow, that sound cute!"

"By sacrificing a Maiden monster, I can special summon a Magical Girl Monster from my deck!" The spell card revealed a picture of a black breastplate and a black skirt with an iron haisen in front of it. The Unhappy Maiden suddenly floated and glowed in numerous colors as her blue dress dissolved into light. A black breastplate attached to her body over her black shirt. A skirt formed around her as she magically twirled her body in circle. Her orange hair changed into a long blood red hair tied into a lengthy ponytail with skull band. Izumi grabbed it from her deck and put it on the duel disk, "Appear! Magical Girl – Oni Slayer Reiya!" [**M3(4/1900/1700)**] The female warrior had now appeared on the field. An iron fan materialized in her hand.

"Reiya, Demon Banish!" Izumi ordered and the magical girl just ran toward the Goddess. Reiya span in circles and sent the Goddess flying out of the field with a ping from a successful whack from her iron haisen.

Shizuka: 4000 – 700 = 3300. Izumi: 2800.

"Take this! My Magical Girl deck!" Izumi cheered, "I'm done with my turn."

"Heh, that's a really cute deck. Draw!" Shizuka drew her card, "I play Monster Reincarnation!" [**S2**] A spell card appeared with a picture of a holy symbol with numerous decorations, "I discard this card to bring back my Goddess with the Third Eye!" She grabbed the ejected card from the duel disk, "I play Polymerization [**S3**] next!" The card of two monsters swirling into each other was placed on the field, "I fuse the Goddess with the Third Eye and Fallen Angel Marie," The green robed Goddess and the dark-skinned angel were fused together, "To summon Saint Jeanue in attack mode!" [**M4(7/2800/2000)**] A beautiful woman jumped to the field, all dressed in shining white chest armor decorated with golden lines over her black pants. She had short orange yellow hair and contained a white rapier in her hand.

"Then I normal summon Big Bang Girl [**M5(4/1300/1500)**] in attack mode!" Shizuka placed another card on the duel disk and a willow-brown haired woman appeared on the field in her orange flaming robe with red cape. She wore a headband out of leaves and wielded a wooden staff with a fire orb on top.

Izumi gasped as Shizuka had summoned two monsters to the Field in one turn.

Shizuka ordered, "I attack your Magical Girl with Saint Jeanue! Arc Slash!" The saint suddenly gained white angelic wings and soared across the Field. She swung her rapier and sliced through the magical girl's haisen and the monster itself.

Shizuka: 3300. Izumi: 2800 – 900 = 1900.

"Big Bang Girl, attack her directly!" Shizuka continued her assault. The sorcerer brought her staff up toward the sky and the fire orb started to glow intense orange. Suddenly, wave of explosions occurred around her opponent. Izumi braced the powerful shocks afterward.

Shizuka: 3300. Izumi: 1900 – 1300 = 600.

Izumi's violet eyes quivered in shock as she saw her Life Points dwindled almost to nothing, _'Shizuka-san is really good. I wonder if all duelists are good as her…if they are…then I would have fail the Dueling Exam if it wasn't for Yuki_.' She looked down, "I can't win this…" She sighed, "I would have failed the dueling exam with a deck like this. I can't even beat my older sister."

"Don't give up!" Shizuka yelled as Izumi looked up toward her. Shizuka continued on, "Onii-san always taught me to never give up even when things gone worse. The very least you can do is to finish this duel!"

"Never give up…" Izumi mouthed those words as she closed her eyes and silently remembered how she always protected her older sister from bullies. She remembered how weak-willed her older sister was in dueling but she continued on fighting her until she won, "Onee-chan wouldn't want me to give up……" Her violet eyes flashed opened with determination, "Well, I did come here to become strong as my sister and I'm not leaving this place till then! Draw!" She drew her card, making her Hand totaled five.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lisa and her loyal aide were walking down the hallway toward their classroom. Couple of Obelisk Blue girls were following them.

Vanessa asked, "Miss Lisa, is this really safe? Wouldn't teachers catch us?"

Lisa retorted, "As long as we do it quickly and hide any proofs, We'll be fine! Come on, that cheating poor city girl is almost done cleaning! We have to make it messier than ever so that on the last day when Professor Morgan come to check on her progress, she would be so mad that cheating city girl would have to get more detention or even better expelled! Ho! Ho! Ho!" She laughed snobbishly as she entered the classroom. She noticed someone was in the classroom and yelled, "Hey, who are you and why are you in Professor Morgan's Classroom!"

The person slowly looked back toward the girls standing in the doorway. His face was hidden in shadows.

Vanessa shook slightly as she felt a strong aura from the person, "Miss Lisa, I think we should leave. I don't think he's safe."

"Oh nonsense, he's just an idiot!" Lisa ordered, "You there, leave this classroom!"

The figure slowly moved his head and revealed the scariest amber colored eyes they ever seen.

The Obelisk Blue girls paled.

Few seconds later, a loud ear-drum piercing blood curling high-pitched screams were heard from the classroom.

* * *

Back to the Dueling Arena, Izumi yelled, "I summon Love Maiden!" [**M6(2/400/400)**] A tiny girl appeared on the field in yellow elegant European dress. She had puppy innocent big eyes and long brown wavy hair with yellow ribbons on the sides of her head, "I play a Magic Card, Magical Costume – Pink Frilly Dress!" [**S4**] The card appeared on the field, revealing a pink frilly dress with puffy shoulders and large red ribbon on the back of her waistline. Under the dress revealed pink slippers. There were two white elegant gloves held diagonally in front of the costume, "I choose Love Maiden as my sacrifice!"

The Love Maiden floated and glow numerous bright colors as her clothes dissolved and being replaced by the pink frilly dress. She span in circle as white gloves and long white socks with pink slippers covered her body. A red bow magically appeared on the back and formed long ribbons that nearly touched the ground. The long brown hair quickly shrunk into short glowing violet hair that nearly touched her neck. For the final touch, she wore a small pink hat with red bow on the back for decoration, "To special summon Magical Girl – Spirit Castor Lilac!" [**M6(4/1300/1600)**]

Izumi grabbed the monster card from her deck, "I placed her in defense mode!" The teenage girl crouched in defensive position, "Because I special summoned her, her effect activates! I can get Book of Magical Spirits from my deck and add it to my hand!" [**S5**] She searched through her deck and grabbed the card she need, "Then I use it right away!" She placed the card into her M/T slot and the card faced up revealed picture of a thick violet colored book with the front cover of numerous spirits, "And I place a facedown card and end my turn!" She inserted a card into her M/T slot and a card appeared next to the faced up card.

_'Book of Magical Spirits? Her monsters consisted of Maidens and Magical Girls. Magical Spirits sound dangerous. There's also that face-down card too.' _Shizuka thought to herself, "Draw!" She drew her card, "Now that it is my Standby Phase, I gain 200 Life Points due to the effect of my Fallen Angel Marie!" The dark skinned female angel appeared in her pink dress and black angelic wings. She blew a kiss to Shizuka, recovering her Life Points and then vanished.

Shizuka: 3300 + 200 = 3500. Izumi: 600.

"When I recovered Life Points, my Big Bang Girl's effect activates!" Shizuka yelled as the Big Bang Girl's fire orb glowed and fired a fireball at Izumi that created an explosion, "You lose 500 Life Points." However Izumi's Life Points remained the same. Shizuka questioned, "Huh? Why?"

The smoke from the explosion cleared, revealing Izumi standing with her face-down card faced up. It was a trap card with a picture of beautiful sky blue-colored shield with golden artistic lines and white angelic wings attached to the side. The shield had two eyes with golden eyelids. The background made the shield look like it was glowing. Izumi explained, "I activate my trap card, Magical Spirit – The Shield. [**T2**] It can only activate when there's Book of Magical Spirits on the Field. It prevents me from any damage and protects my monsters at this turn!" She discarded the trap card to the Graveyard.

Shizuka smiled, "Amazing. I can't do anything this turn except place one card face-down and then I end." Her M/T card appeared on the field.

"I activate the effect of the Book of Magical Spirits!" Izumi explained, "Instead of drawing, I can add a monster with Magical Spirit in its name to my hand." She took out her deck and searched through it. She grabbed one card and declared, "I chose Magical Spirit – The Fire Elemental!" She added it to her hand and took out other card, "I play Magical Weapon – Magical Pink staff!" [**S6**] A cute pink staff appeared in the Magical Girl's hands. The staff contained a ruby in the shape of moon on the top. Inside the moon was a diamond in the shape of the sun. Tiny golden angelic wings were connected to the sides of the gem. Her initial ATK and DEF increased into 1600 and 1900.

Izumi continued her turn, "With the Magical Pink Staff, I can normal summon the Magical Spirit – The Fire Elemental [**M8(8/3000/2800)**] without any sacrifices!" She slammed one of her strongest card on the field and suddenly a fire pillar erupted from the ground. The fire pillar cleared, revealing a beautiful woman made out of pure energy of orange fire adorned in blazing red armor around her breasts and her wrist, almost looked like a swimsuit. She also had red shoulder pads that were curved like fire. Her fiery hair was defying gravity. She had no legs as her lower body was the flaming pillar burning on the Field.

Izumi ordered, "Fire Elemental! Destroy Saint Jeanue with Magic Flare!" Numerous fire pillars rose from the Field and merged into a large sphere in the fiery woman's hands. The Fire Elemental raised the sphere high and tossed it at Saint Jeanue. The knightess tried to block it with her rapier but it quickly melted under the intense heat of the sphere. The destructive sphere quickly consumed the poor saint knight and created a giant explosion.

Shizuka: 3500 – 200 = 3300. Izumi: 600.

Izumi yelled, "Because Fire Elemental destroys your Saint Jeanue, her effect deal damage to you equals to the destroyed monster's ATK!"

The explosion became bigger and consumed Shizuka.

Shizuka: 3300 – 2800 = 500. Izumi: 600.

Izumi smirked, "I end my turn and because my Fire Elemental is a Spirit Card. It has to return to my hand." The powerful spirit disappeared and went back to her hand.

"Draw!" Shizuka drew her card, "Fallen Angel Marie's effect is still active!" The angel appeared again and gave her a kiss.

Shizuka: 500 + 200 = 700. Izumi: 600.

"Then the Big Bang Girl's effect is activated." Shizuka pointed out as the Big Bang Girl sent a tiny explosion that damaged Izumi.

Shizuka: 700. Izumi: 600 – 500 = 100.

Izumi cringed, "I still have a 100 Life Points. The next turn I would be able to finish you!" She smirked.

Shizuka smiled, "I'm afraid you won't have a turn. I activate my face down card, Gift of the Mystical Elf!" [**T3**] Her face down card showed a blue-skinned elf holding a glowing light in her hands, "There are two monsters on the field. Therefore I gain 600 Life Points."

Shizuka: 700 + 600 = 1300. Izumi: 100.

Izumi's eyes widened as she realized what it was about to come next.

Shizuka continued, "Because I gain Life Points……..the Big Bang Girl's effect activates." The Big Bang Girl once again sent a tiny explosion that rid of Izumi's remaining Life Points once and for all.

Shizuka: 1300. Izumi: 100 – 500 = 0.

Izumi sighed disappointedly as the holograms disappeared, "I lost."

Shizuka walked up to her and patted her shoulder, "Don't feel bad. You're really good duelist. If you destroyed my Big Bang Girl with your Fire Elemental or Card Castor Lilac, the results would be a different story."

"Ehhhh?" Izumi cried, "I should have done that and remember defense mode next time."

Shizuka chuckled, "You just need to learn more and you'll be able to be strong as your older sister in no time."

Izumi smiled, "Thanks." She stretched her arms, "Dueling made me feel way better! Thank you very much for everything!"

"It's alright." Shizuka smiled because she enjoyed the duel.

"Well I gotta finish my cleaning! See you later!" Izumi shouted as she was about to leave, "Again, thank you, Shizuka-san!"

"You're welcome! And see you later!" Shizuka waved back before Izumi left. She then walked in the opposite direction and finally found the classroom 207. The door slid open as Shizuka stepped forward into the room. She saw a blonde girl waiting for her, "Hi Rebecca-san."

"About time!" Rebecca exclaimed, "What took you so long? I was worried that you got lost or something."

"Gomen, something came up." Shizuka apologized and took out a deck, "Here you go. I brought your deck." She handed it to Rebecca.

Rebecca also took out a deck and handed to Shizuka, "Here's your deck. I can't believe you accidentally thought my deck was yours."

"Gomen." Shizuka closed her eyes and clasped her hands for apology, "Well, can't you really blame me? The back of the cards all look the same."

Rebecca looked through her deck and moved her glasses up her nose, "Say, Shizuka, do you use my deck?"

Shizuka laughed nervously, "Um…yeah, I did. I just met a girl and she was feeling down. So I wanted to cheer her up by a duel."

"I see." Rebecca accepted her reason but couldn't help but asked, "Is she any good?"

Shizuka smiled, "She nearly beat me."

Rebecca pouted, "Well she wouldn't be nearly beating you if you use your own deck! You don't know all the combos in mine."

Shizuka countered, "But I do witness some of them in your duels."

Rebecca sighed, "Oh whatever. What's the duelist's name?"

Shizuka looked at Rebecca with interested smile, "Kitamori Izumi."

* * *

"Voltic Thunder!" Judai declared his attack. The Thunder Giant held both of his hands out and sent out a powerful lightning toward Asuka. She screamed as she braced the electric attack. Stray lightning (I don't know how this is possible) strayed across the lake and shocked Professor Chronos who was in the water in his black scuba suit.

Asuka nearly fell on her knees as her Life Points dwindled to zero.

Momoe looked at her friend with concern, "Asuka-san, are you okay?"

Sho cheered as he stood up and hugged Judai, "You did it!"

Judai did his signature pose with his wink, "Gotcha, it was a fun duel!" He composed himself, "Based on the agreement, I'm taking Sho back."

"Please do." Asuka put her right hand above her waist, "I will honor our agreement. We won't mention what happened today."

Junko frowned, "Hmph, don't get too cocky just because you won by chance."

Asuka reprimanded, "Don't be like that, Junko."

"Asuka-san…" Junko looked at Asuka.

"A loss is a loss. Don't do any embarrassing things."

Judai crossed his arms, "Nah, maybe I'm like what she said." Asuka looked back at Judai who praised her, "You're really strong." Asuka was surprised from his comment. Judai sat down on the canoe and grabbed the oars, "Seeya." He rowed away while Sho waved bye to the girls.

Asuka just stared at Judai as he left. She smirked, _'That guy…this could get more interesting.' _

Junko stared at Asuka's back, _'I have a feeling that today's Asuka-san isn't the same as she was before.' _She gasped, _'It can't be…' _She glanced at Judai.

Chronos, who was out of sight from the others, cursed, "Yuki Judai! I'll make sure you get expelled!" He sighed, "But today, I'm tired."

* * *

Izumi rushed back to her classroom. The door slid open and she entered and gaped. Lisa, Vanessa, and some Obelisk Blue Girls that Izumi recognized from different classes were cleaning the classroom. Lisa looked up to see who it is, "What are you staring at?"

Izumi blinked and pointed to Lisa, "Why are you cleaning the room?"

Vanessa paled slightly and she wiped the desk in a faster pace,

Lisa sweat-dropped and answered, "Well….um…because you were working so hard….cleaning this room……and….being a nice girl like me…..My comrades and I decided to take over!"

Izumi, of course, couldn't believe it, "Um….."

"Hey Izumi!" Tsubaki came in and Kurai soon followed him. Tsubaki blinked at this bewildered sight. He pointed at Lisa and Vanessa, "Why are you cleaning the room?"

Lisa roared with red angry eyes and twitching veins, "I already answered that!"

Tsubaki cringed as his ear-drums suffered, "Jeeze….rude…Oh well, not my business." He looked back at Izumi, "Hey Izumi, we were about to help you finish it up but since the rich girls are doing your work. Do you want to eat dinner with us? Even the cold hearted stiff is coming along!" Kurai smacked Tsubaki's head as he loathed being called a stiff.

Izumi sweat-dropped but smiled widely for the first time in a long while, "Yeah!"

Tsubaki smiled back, "Great!"

Kurai just looked away toward Lisa and Vanessa and narrowed his eyes.

Lisa and Vanessa's skins paled into ghost white as they glanced at Kurai's amber eyes. They cleaned the room frantically, not wanting to anger the certain beast.

Kurai smirked, "Heh." He walked out of the classroom.

Tsubaki yelled, "Come on, Izumi, let's go! It's pizza night!" He walked into the hallway.

Izumi just giggled softly as she quickly caught up and walked between them.

Tsubaki blinked in confusion and asked, "What's with the extreme happiness? Happy that you're not cleaning anymore?"

Izumi smiled, "Nah, I'm just happy that I have friends like you guys!"

Tsubaki just grinned, "No prob!"

Kurai just shrugged, "Whatever." He didn't know why he agreed to tag along with Tsubaki and Izumi but…he's feeling a little bit kind today, so he'll let it go.

**

* * *

TBC**

**Tsubaki: **Ohh, so Izumi's deck is Magical Girl deck…I never knew…

**Izumi: **……….what do you mean?

**Tsubaki: **I never thought you would be the girly type since you're so tomboyish…Ahhhhh! **::Izumi punched him flying::**

**Izumi: **Ignore my friend here. What's with all of us out late this night? Wait a minute, this wouldn't be the horror episode, is it? It is! Ahhhhh! A ghost! Nooooo!

**Tsubaki: **Eh? A ghost! Where?

**Izumi: **I don't know! Yuki! Go take care of him!

**Next Episode: Episode 4 – The Invasion of the Chinese Zombies!**

**Tsubaki: **I'm guessing Yuki is dueling again. Man, no fair! I want to duel next.

**Izumi: **I don't care! Just get rid of the ghost!

**Tsubaki: **Man, you're really scared of ghosts, huh? I guess you're more of a girl than I thought.

**Izumi punched Tsubaki again.**

**Tsubaki**: Ouch! Jeeze, you're more scarier than a ghost!

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Duel**

**Alexander: **Today's strongest card of the day is the Magical Spirit – The Fire Elemental.

**Izumi: **Alright! That's my trump card!

**Alexander smiled: **It's certainly a very powerful card. It has the ATK of the Blue Eyes White Dragon and the ability to inflict more damage when you destroy a monster. However because it is a spirit card, it has to return to the hand at the end of the turn.

**Izumi: **I know…kinda make the two sacrifices worthless. Good thing I had the Magical Pink Staff with me.

**Alexander: **By the way, Izumi, if you have the Fire Elemental, that means you also have the Wind, the Earth, and the Water. Right?

**Izumi: **That's right! Why do you ask?

**Alexander smiled: **Didn't you know?

**Izumi: **Know what?

**Alexander smiled: **If you have Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water, something incredible will happen.

**Izumi: **Something incredible?

**Alexander: **That's right. When you put all your heart into it, a miracle will happen.

**Izumi gasped: **A miracle?

**Alexander: **That's right! With all four elements and heart, you get to see Captain Planet! **::Captain Planet's intro theme played::**

**Izumi just gaped:**……………………………..I'm so shocked at myself for actually believing in this stupidity. **::She sulked in shame::**

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 **- **The Unhappy Maiden: Light/Spellcaster/1/0/100**: Effect: When this card is sent to the Graveyard as the result of battle, the Battle Phase for that turn ends immediately.

**M2 - ****Goddess with the Third Eye: Light/Angel/4/1200/1000**: Effect: You can substitute this card for any 1 Fusion-Material Monster. When you do this, the other Fusion-Material Monster(s) must be the correct one(s).

**M3 - ****Magical Girl – Oni Slayer Reiya: Dark/Warrior/4/1900/1700**: Effect: You can Normal Summon this card. In that case, treat this monster as Maiden Monster. If this card is successfully Special Summon with [Magical Costume], this card gained the following effect. Negate and destroy the effects of Trap and Magic cards that target this monster.

**M4**** - ****Saint Jeanue: Light/Angel – Fusion/7/2800/2000**

**M5 - Big Bang Girl: Fire/Pyro/4/1300/1500**: Effect: Whenever you gain Life Points, do 500 damage to your opponent.

**M6 - Love Maiden: Light/Angel/2/400/400(made up defense points)**: Effect: If this Monster is in attack mode, it cannot be destroyed as a result of Battle. When this Monster is attacked by your opponent place 1 [Maiden Counter] on the attacker.

**M7 –** **Magical Girl – Spirit Castor Lilac: Light/Spellcaster/4/1300/1600**: Effect: You can Normal Summon this card. In that case, treat this monster as Maiden Monster. If this card is successfully Special Summon with [Magical Costume], search your deck for [Book of Magical Spirits] and activate it. Shuffle your deck afterwards.

**M8 – Magical Spirit – The Fire Elemental: Fire/Pyro – Spirit/8/3000/2800**: Effect: This card cannot be special-summoned. This card returns to the owner's hand during the End Phase of the turn. This card can only be normal summoned, flip summoned or flipped face-up when there's [Book of Magical Spirits] on the Field. When a monster on your opponent's side of the field is destroyed by this card as a result of battle, inflict damage to your opponent's Life Points equal to the original ATK of the destroyed monster.

**S1 - ****Magical Costume – Oni Slaying Robe – Normal Magic**: Activate this card by offering a monster that includes [Maiden] in its card name as a tribute. Special Summon 1 Magical Girl – Oni Slayer Reiya from your deck or Hand.

**S2 - Monster Reincarnation – Normal Magic**: Discard 1 card from your hand. Place 1 Monster from your Graveyard into your hand.

**S3 - Polymerization – Normal Magic**: Fuses 2 or more Fusion-Material Monsters to form a new Fusion Monster.

**S4 - Magical Costume – Pink Frilly Dress – Normal Magic**: Activate this card by offering a monster that includes [Maiden] in its card name as a tribute. Special Summon 1 Magical Girl – Spirit Castor Lilac from your deck or Hand.

**S5 –** **Book of Magical Spirits – Permanent Magic**: If there's a face-up monster with [Magical Girl] in its name on the Field, you can add 1 monster with [Magical Spirit] in its name to your hand per turn instead of drawing 1 card during your Draw Phase. Your Deck is then shuffled.

**S6 - Magical Weapon – Magical Pink Staff – Equipment Magic**: This card can only be equipped to [Magical Girl – Spirit Castor Lilac]. Increase her ATK and DEF by 300. This monster cannot be destroyed as the result of battle. You can normal summon a monster with [Magical Spirit] in its name without any sacrifices if required.

**T1 - ****Call of the Haunted – Permanent Trap**: Select 1 monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it in face-up Attack Position. When this card is destroyed or removed from the field, the summoned monster is destroyed. If the summoned monster is destroyed, this card is also destroyed.

**T2 - Magical Spirit – The Shield – Trap**: Can only activate when there's [Book of Magical Spirits] on the Field. During this turn, any damage you take from your opponent becomes zero. Also prevents from your monsters being destroyed by battle, Magic, Traps, and Effects this turn.

**T3 - Gift of the Mystical Elf – Trap**: Increase your Life Points by 300 for each monster on the Field.


	6. 4A: The Invasion of the Chinese Zombies!

**Author's Note: **It's time! It's time for the annoying part of GX! That's right, this is a FILLER episode just like how Judai would have random duels with tennis ace and SAL the monkey. This is Kurai's random duel episode! Also, credit goes to Lux-Nero for his idea of a filler character, Domon! Also, the excerpt from GX episode 4 is really long. You can skip it if you want to.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any Yugioh anime and credit goes to GLL99 for translations of Yugioh GX Episode 4. (Ironically, this GX episode is not a filler)

**

* * *

Episode 4: The Invasion of the Chinese Zombies!**

"And so she glanced around, trying to see how the serious situation was."

A beautiful girl with long straight blonde hair looked around and saw how incredible dark the space she was in and how eerily cold she felt. It was freezing in here but that wasn't surprising because she was merely dressed in a simple white summer dress.

"When she's finished, she realized how grave the situation is. She slowly lost hope as she kept trying to think of a solution, a solution out of this danger she was in."

The blonde shivered as she rubbed her arms frantically, trying to keep warm. She tried to think of plans but so far, none of her made up plans would work. The situation she's in was indeed very grave.

"Having no choice but to accept the cruel reality, she finally looked up toward the face of her danger."

She slowly looked up toward the source of despair, the source of her fear. Her eyes quivered and her mouth slowly gaped. She then screamed out loud as she continued to stare at multiple eyes and five dragon heads, each with different color and elements.

"She cried out of horror as she faced the Five God Dragon!" Tsubaki stomped his foot on the coffee table for dramatic effect. He grinned proudly as he felt that he told a really scary story. He asked, "What do you think?" He glanced down toward the opposite occupant of the table.

Izumi, who was sitting down while Tsubaki was standing with one leg on the table and the other on the floor, just looked at her friend with a bored look. She replied, "…A Five God Dragon? …that's your scary story?"

Tsubaki pouted, knowing that Izumi was not scared at all, "The Five God Dragon has the strongest ATK!" He crossed his arms, "Of course, it's scary!"

Izumi smacked her own head, "Oh for goodness sake, that's not a scary story at all! In fact, it's not even a scary story when a duel monster is involved!"

"Oh, really?" Tsubaki challenged, "What don't you come up with one, Miss Fearless?" Suddenly, an alarm clock came whizzing.

BAM!

An alarm clock hit Tsubaki's face directly in the center. Izumi blinked in surprise and immediately asked out of concern, "Tsubaki?"

Tsubaki just stood there in silence. Few seconds later, he fell to the floor on his back due to the impact of the alarm clock.

Izumi quickly stood up to look at him, "Tsubaki!" She sweat-dropped as she looked toward the person who threw the alarm clock. That person was a very angry blue-haired and amber-eyed duelist who looked like he just woke up from his sleep. She gulped, "Yuki?"

Kurai twitched at his name.

Tsubaki stood up abruptly as he tore the alarm clock away from his face. He snapped, "What the hell was that for?" He pointed to the large alarm clock print on his face.

Kurai glared, "You're noisy. I'm trying to sleep."

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Sorry, Yuki. I guess we're too loud, huh?"

"Izumi, you don't need to apologize." Tsubaki reprimanded.

Izumi glanced at Tsubaki, "But I should. After all, you guys invited me to live with you temporarily while my dorm needs to be fixed." Since her dorm was ruined with graffiti from the last episode. Of course, Professor Morgan objected strongly to this arrangement but Izumi didn't really know any other girls, so Professor Tyrell had to persuade to let her sleep in her friends' dorm or literally dragged the female teacher away before she tried to cut off any egg rolls.

"Correction," Kurai pointed out, "the idiot invited you, not me."

Tsubaki frowned, "You don't need to be such a stiff!" Suddenly, another alarm clock smacked him in the face, causing him to fall on his back again.

Izumi had a giant sweat-droplet and she swayed her head as she sighed, "I missed my dorm already."

* * *

Inside the Osiris Red Dorms at the Duel Academia.

Shou was praying in front of the poster of Osiris between two dimly lit candles, "I beseech thee…O Duel God, depending on how I score on today's monthly test, I can get promoted from Osiris Red to Ra Yellow! This is sure to be my…" He yelled in front of the Monster Reborn card below the Osiris poster, "Resurrection of the Dead! Please save poor Sho from the Cemetery! I beg of you, please!" His praying was so passionate that he wore a white headband filled with Monster Reborn cards around his forehead.

RING!

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Sho screamed out of fright. He quickly looked back toward the ringing clock next to Judai who was sleeping peacefully throughout the noise, "Oh, it's just the alarm clock…" He walked up to Judai, "But Aniki sure is relaxed." He kneeled by him, "He doesn't do any studying for the test, comes back to the dorm, and just sleeps away." Sho shook Judai's shoulder, "Aniki, you're going to be late for test! Aniki!"

"My turn! Draw!" Judai yelled as he thrust his arms upward, pushing Sho to the ground but he was only sleep-dueling.

Sho groaned out of frustration, "Geez, your turn's over! I said you're going to be late for the test!"

"Sho, you're way too soft," Hayato looked down from his top bunk bed, "The test has you compete in your own dorm in both a practical and written portion. That means all the members of Osiris Red are your enemy."

"N-no way…my enemy?" Sho couldn't believe his ears.

Hayato continued, "And since he beat Professor Chronos, Judai's especially closest to Ra Yellow out of all Osiris Reds here. If we just leave him be and don't wake him up, we'll gain ourselves an advantage."

"I couldn't possibly do that to Aniki as his little bro!" Sho felt offended at Hayato's suggestion. He attempted shaking Judai again, "Aniki! Wake up, Aniki! The test is gonna start, Aniki! Aniki, damnit! Aniki" He just ran out of the classroom, his body was probably actually following Hayato's suggestion and left Judai behind.

Hayato sweat-dropped as Sho's actions completely contradicted what he just said.

Sho ran toward the Duel Academy building, _'That's right. This is a duelist's battlefield. I have to beat them before they beat me! I'm trying to be a hard boiled duelist!'_ He panted as he was getting closer toward the building until he suddenly tripped and fell on his face. Hmm, karma, what comes around must comes around.

Couple of minutes later, Judai was running like hell, leaving a dust cloud in his wake, toward the academy building, screaming, "I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!"

An old lady, Tomo, was pushing her worn truck up the hill.

"I'm late! I'm late!" Judai ran past Tomo until he suddenly stopped, making a loud skidding noise. He looked back at Tomo struggling and cursed to himself, "I'm a sucker for situations like this!" He ran back to her, "I'll give you a hand, old lady." He pushed the truck from behind.

Tomo spoke concernedly, "Don't you have a test today? You'll be late!"

Judai countered, "So what if I'm late? I can't ignore an old lady in trouble!" He accidentally let go and the truck slid further down the hill. He panicked and quickly went behind the truck to push.

"Boy…" Tomo was genuinely touched by Judai's kindness.

Judai smiled, "I can handle the thing you just mentioned. Just leave everything to me!" He laughed confidently.

"Thanks a bunch!"

"Don't mention it. We're both in a pinch, you know!"

Almost a half of hour later passed and all the students were taking the written tests at the classroom. Sho was napping on his test, "Aniki…" He was feeling guilty for leaving Judai behind, "Aniki…I'm sorry. Aniki."

"Unforgivable! Absolutely unforgivable!"

Sho woke up and gasped as he saw Judai. The guilt immediately kicked in and he wondered if Judai was going to get angry.

Judai smirked, "There's no point in studying to the bone just to doze off, you jerk!"

"Aniki…" Sho smiled nervously and was secretly glad that Judai didn't found out about his guilt.

"You're being a pest, Osiris Red! Shut your trap!" Manjoume glared, "If you don't plan on taking the test, then beat it!"

Judai glared back, "Quit joking around! I came all this way! You think I'm just going to go back?"

"Yuki Judai-kun!" Daitokuji called out, "Come down here and get a testing sheet-nya. There's not much time left-nya."

"Yes, sir!" Judai replied as he rushed down the stairs.

Asuka frowned, _'H-he's mocking us. Being thirty minutes late means he has no consideration for the written test.'_

Misawa stared at Judai disappointedly, _'How could you be so negligent and yet have such considerable skills, Yuki Judai?' _

Random Osiris Red was complaining silently, _'How did a guy like him beat Professor Chronos?' _

Asuka narrowed her eyes, _'How…?'_

Finally, the written exams were over. Judai and Sho were sleeping by leaning on each other with Judai's back on Sho's head.

Chronos was spying from the back of the classroom. He laughed evilly, "Hee. Hee. Hee. He finished himself off on the written test, just as I suspected! All that remains is the practical skills test," He laughed more, _'I look forward to that.'_ He giggled vilely.

* * *

The very next day came with the arrival of the hot blazing sun that gazed upon the island of the South Duel Academy. Normally, our story would go to the Osiris Red dorms but not this time, instead this story is starting with the Ra Yellow dorms.

Inside the Ra Yellow Mansion, early risers were practicing dueling, studying, or getting breakfast. Two Ra Yellow girls were in the cafeteria, trying to choose which meal they want to eat.

Ra Yellow Girl #1 fumed, "Hmm, I think I'll get Combo #1. How about you?"

Ra Yellow Girl #2 replied, "Combo #5! I'm feeling for something sweet."

Ra Yellow Girl #1 looked at her strangely, "You're going to get cavities if you keep eating those sweet stuffs." She took her tray given by the Ra Yellow chef.

Ra Yellow Girl #2 scoffed, "Ha. I never got cavities for 15 years straight. So don't worry about me." She also picked her tray. Both girls quickly found a table for themselves.

Ra Yellow Girl #1 prepared her napkin, "If you're not going to worry about your teeth, at least worry about your shape, if you know what I mean."

Ra Yellow Girl #2 picked up her fork, "Hey! I'm not the one who gained few pounds last week."

Ra Yellow Girl #1 blushed out of embarrassment, "Don't say that out loud! Oh whatever, I'm hungry." She picked up her fork and was about to chow down, "Huh?" She noticed strange objects on her food. She took a closer look and her eyes increased in size out of shock as she came to realization what the strange objects were. She screamed, "Ahhhhhh! Cockroaches!" She cried as she ran away from her table.

Ra Yellow Girl #2 blinked in confusion, "Huh?" Then she noticed something on her food plate. She also screamed too, "Ahhhhh! Cockroaches!" She ran off too, following her friend.

The table containing two food plates was left empty until a head popped out behind the table. A head with straight but uneven forest green hair that was so long that it touched the base of his neck associated with long bangs on the sides too. The owner suddenly rose up from his hiding spot. The owner of the head had a body so thin that people often mistaken him for a skeleton and a skin so pale that people often mistaken him as a ghost. From the way he dressed, he seemed to be Ra Yellow student too with his yellow uniform over his dark gray sweater and black cargo pants. He also wore glasses that were so thick it made his eyes looked like swirls. The pale student smirked evilly as he snatched two plastic cockroaches from the food plates, "That was rather delightful…nothing beats starting the morning with two fresh beautiful screams…" He laughed manically, "And free food to boot!" He laughed even more.

Random Ra Yellow students had giant sweat droplets as they watched his crazy sickly laughs.

Ra Yellow boy sighed, "There he goes again. Domon Yaku struck fear again."

Another Ra Yellow boy groaned, "With his stupid jokes…it's kind of stupid that he's doing all this just for screams and foods….I mean….foods here are free anyway…"

Ra Yellow boy stared at Domon, who took out a bottle of hot sauce and poured it all over the food plates. He looked back at his friend, "I think he just did it for the thrill of it."

Domon took a bite-sized piece with his fork and ate it, "Hmmm." His face turned red as fire and he quickly beat on his chest to calm his mouth down. He grabbed a glass of water and drank it in a single gulp. He gasped with relief, "Perfect. Just perfect." He stared down at his free plate of food which was now entirely red. He quickly took another bite.

"Yo!" A loud cheerful voice suddenly frightened the poor pale student.

"Ahhh!" Domon yelled and immediately, the food he just ate went down the wrong hole. He immediately choked on it and started coughing. He quickly grabbed another glass of water and drank it quickly. He stopped coughing as he sighed out of great relief that he won't die. He chided, "Don't scare me!"

Domon was yelling at another Ra Yellow male student. He looked much healthier than Domon with his athletic thin body and normal skin color. He also appeared to be brighter than Domon with his cheerful appearance and his colorful clothes under his Ra Yellow uniform. He had light violet hair that was neatly trimmed but messy in a cool style and eyes blue as the sky. He chuckled, "I thought you liked to be scared, Domon?"

Domon twitched, "I like to scare people! Not be scared by you, Rad!"

The cheerful boy blinked, "Really?" He grinned, "Oh well, my mistake!" He laughed happily.

Domon glared and cursed silently, _'Curse you, Radnor Cielo! The only man in this dorm that I can't scare…damn his happy happy cheerfulness…plus…he's too bright for me!'_ He groaned painfully as he shielded himself away from the ultra light of happiness emanating from Rad.

Rad plopped down on the opposite chair of Domon, "Scare those poor girls again?"

Domon cursed again as he didn't wish to stay near this "bright" crazy boy. He scowled, "Yes…I did…they picked the best food."

Rad chuckled, "You could have got it yourself, man. They're free after all."

"Hmph," Domon smirked, "And waste such a wonderful opportunity to create fear?" He chuckled evilly.

Rad sweat-dropped as he scratched his face cheek, "Man, you're crazy."

Domon twitched and snapped, "You're the crazy one! I can't even scare you once! You're impossible!"

Rad responded with another laugh, "That's because I don't easily get scared!"

Domon twitched and cursed silently again, _'Curse you and your bright exterior, Rad!'_

Rad stopped laughing as he scrunched his face into a deep thought, "Although….there is one thing I might be scared of…"

"What is it?" Domon demanded quickly as he wanted to know the great Rad's weakness.

"That Osiris Red duelist…" Rad replied seriously.

Domon blinked as he didn't expect that answer. He twitched, "You're scared of a duelist that ranked much lower than us? Are you mocking me?"

Rad pointed out, "Haven't you heard the rumors?"

Domon instantly reverted from anger to curious, "What rumors?"

"Oh you know," Rad explained, "the rumors about a certain Osiris Red student that beat the Osiris Red Professor."

Domon's glasses glinted, showing his serious brown eyes, "You mean Professor Tyrell?"

Rad smirked, "The very one! That duelist must be really powerful to beat a professor, it gotta be scary. Plus I heard the reason that Osiris Red duelist duel against the Professor because that person missed the entrance exam."

"I see…" Domon's glasses were back to swirls as he smirked evilly to himself, _'I see. I see. So Rad is scared of this duelist. Then all I have to do is defeat this duelist and I'll be scarier than him! Then finally, I'll be able to scare that accursed bright creature!'_ He laughed manically.

Rad sweat-dropped, "Okay…I'm leaving you alone." He ran off.

Domon smiled evilly, "Now I just need to find out the name of that Osiris Red loser."

* * *

Izumi suddenly sneezed as she was about to leave the Osiris cafeteria with Kurai and Tsubaki.

Tsubaki commented, "Bless you. Man that was the loudest sneeze I ever heard. Are you getting sick?"

Izumi swayed her head, "No, I don't have the flu or something like that," She narrowed her eyes, "I think someone's talking about me…or watching me…"

Tsubaki smirked, "Getting scared, aren't you?"

Izumi pouted, "I'm not scared! I don't get scared even your sucky so-called scary stories didn't scare me."

Tsubaki retorted, "Hey, they did not suck!"

Izumi countered, "Yes, they did!" She looked at Yuki for support, "Right, Yuki?"

Kurai was staring toward the bush. He narrowed his amber eyes as he was suspicious of the bush.

"Yuki?" Izumi called.

Kurai twitched out of slight annoyance. He scowled, "I heard it the first time."

Izumi put her hands on her hips, "You could have answered it sooner."

Kurai ignored her, "Whatever." He walked away from them.

"Ah, hey! Wait for us!" Izumi chased after Kurai, along with Tsubaki following her.

The bush that Kurai was staring at was just a regular bush hiding a certain person. Wait a minute, hiding a certain person? The narrator grabbed a stick out of nowhere and poked the bush. Suddenly, the most horrifying ghost the world had ever seen arose from the bush! The narrator screamed, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" He immediately fainted after he turned pale white.

Domon suddenly popped out of the bush with his glasses glinting, "So this is the rumored duelist that beat the Professor?" He touched his glasses, "Izumi Kitamori…she's rather cute…" He said the last word with utter disgust. His glasses flashed as he looked dangerously toward a poor frightened tied up Ra Yellow male duelist on the ground, "You are sure, it's her?"

The Ra Yellow duelist couldn't really answer because his mouth was tied up. He just nodded frantically while crying out of fear.

Domon smirked, "Good…now…Izumi is not scared of scary stories?...We'll see about that…" He chuckled and then it grew into a evil creepy mad scientist laugh.

Within couple of minutes, classes were starting and students were arriving in the classroom. Kurai and the other two duelists reached their classroom after walking down the long hallway inside the Duel Academy.

"Hold it!" Izumi cried.

Tsubaki blinked and he glanced back, "What is it?

Izumi answered, "I just want to make sure that the classroom is really clean and I don't need to clean it up again for detention." She walked through the classroom door and noticed the classroom was packed with students but overall, the room was indeed clean. She cast a single glance toward the bullying duo, Lisa and Vanessa in the Obelisk Blue section. Lisa caught Izumi's glance and completely ignored her as she crossed her arms with a "hmph." Izumi just smiled slightly and walked back to the hallway, "Okay, the classroom is clean!"

Tsubaki grinned, "That's good to hear!"

Kurai groaned and walked past Izumi into the classroom. He just wanted to get this class over with.

Of course, the others followed Kurai to their respective desks. Izumi quickly sat on her chair and then noticed something sticking out of her desk, "Huh?" Izumi lifted the desk slightly, revealing an envelope that said To Izumi Kitamori. She grabbed the envelope and stared at it, "This is…" She gasped slightly, _'Could this be a love letter?'_

"Whatcha looking at?" Tsubaki asked as he noticed the envelope in Izumi's hand.

Izumi panicked, "AH!" She hid the envelope, "It's nothing, really!"

Tsubaki blinked with slight confusion but he decided to shrug it off. Izumi sighed with relief and quickly opened the envelope away from Tsubaki and Kurai's sight. She quickly read the letter silently, '_Dear Kitamori Izumi, I have been following you and I sincerely wish to meet you. Let us meet in the abandoned dorms at the outskirts of the island.'_ Izumi blushed slightly, _'I knew it! It is a love letter!'_ She decided to read more, _'The purpose of this meeting is that I challenge you to a duel!' _

Izumi stared at the letter with complete shock with her jawbone dropped. She was staring at the letter as it was the stupidest thing in the world. Izumi twitched, "A challenge to duel? That's it?" She glanced down toward the bottom of the letter to read the name, "Domon Yaku? He sounds suspicious…" She then noticed a P.S. message and read it, "P.S. If you refuse this duel, you'll be haunted forever! Muwhahahahahaha!' Izumi had a giant sweat-droplet as she immediately assumed the sender of this letter was a very crazy man. She scoffed, "I'll be haunted forever…yeah right." She decided to ignore this challenge as she crushed the letter into a paper ball.

That was a mistake. Izumi was completely unaware that the same person who sent that letter to her was actually in the classroom. Nearby Izumi's desk, Domon was sitting on his desk with his glasses glinting with ominous flash. His pale sickly expression grew into evil smirk, "Refuse my challenge, eh? You'll be in for a fright, my dear Izumi."

* * *

In the teachers' offices inside the academy building, there was a woman with an outer worldly aura and closed eyes sitting on her desk, looking at the student complaints. She had forest green hair tied in ponytail along with a white headband around her head. She seemed to give away a haunting aura because she was a shaman from Transylvania. She wore a Ra Yellow priestess robe over a thin silk pant. She was Professor Anya Mileah, the Headmistress of the Ra Yellow girls' dorm. She sighed, "The spirits are not happy."

Sitting in another desk nearby her desk was Doctor Schmitt, the Headmaster of the Ra Yellow boys' dorm and the head doctor of the Duel Academy. He looked up to her from his paperworks, "What do you mean, Miss Mileah?" As a doctor of science, he didn't really believe in spiritual stuff but after working with her for years, he was used to her weird antics.

Mileah answered, "Domon struck again. It's very nice that he has interests in my profession but I wish he take the dark arts seriously instead of using it for childish pranks."

Dr. Schmitt rubbed his chin, "It's such a shame. No matter how many times the students complained, we can't expel Domon because he's one of our best second year Ra Yellow student with excellent grades in written exams."

"I wish we would have expel him," A stern voice interjected in their conversation, "He's an obnoxious troublemaker."

Mileah looked up toward the person who just walked in the office, "What bring you here, Miss Morgan?"

Morgan complained, "That Domon punk is harassing my students now."

"So his reign of terror reached even the Osiris Red." Said Dr. Schmitt, "But that's unexpected. Usually, his pranks only stayed in Ra Yellow. He never played it on anyone above or below his little rank."

Morgan scoffed, "He's a troublemaker. What do you expect from a child who hanged around Bandit Keith?" She growled the name of the notorious American duelist from the famous Duel Kingdom.

Dr. Schmitt was surprised, "Bandit Keith from the Duelist Kingdom? It's not in my records that Domon participated in Pegasus's tournament."

Morgan replied, "He didn't. I believed he wasn't good enough to work for that disgusting American. Instead, his friends, Ghost Kotsuzaka (Bonz), Satake (Zygor), and Takaido (Sid) were the one who came along with Keith."

Dr. Schmitt asked, "How do you know about this, Miss Morgan?"

"I have my ways." Morgan didn't want to reveal her secret.

"I see," The doctor decided not to intrude any further, "Speaking of Ghost and his friends, didn't those three attend the Battle City? I heard they disappeared."

Mileah answered in a soft ghastly tone, "The spirits told me that they were sent to hell."

Morgan and Dr. Schmitt just stared at Mileah in silence. They had no responses to that comment.

* * *

Time flew by and classes were over. Izumi tried her hardest by taking notes in those classes. Tsubaki slept through those classes most of the time, claiming that sleep is better for his brain than boring education. Kurai just sat there, looking bored and cool through the entire classes. Izumi stuffed her notes into her backpack, "Hey, guys, you can go ahead without me. I need to talk to the officials about my dorm."

"Alright," Tsubaki waved, "Catch up with you later." He left the classroom along with Kurai.

True to her word, Izumi was asking one of the stuff about when the repairs to her dorm will be done. She was getting tired of living in the hut with two roommates, two MALE roommates. Plus she kinda knew that Yuki was not happy at all when she's living there with him. After getting an estimated guess of when the repairs will be done, Izumi headed back to her dorms. She sighed as she walked out of the Duel Academy. It was dark as the sun already disappeared. It was night time but the sky was darker than before because the black clouds were covering the moon and the stars, the only source of light in the pitch black sky.

Looking at the night sky, Izumi couldn't help but remember that letter and how it threatened to hunt her. Izumi scoffed, "Please like I'm actually afraid of being hunted. Beside, there's no such thing as ghosts." She claimed that but her body reacted differently. She couldn't help but feel a tiny bit nervous about being alone in the darkness. Izumi gulped and shivered slightly as she didn't like the feeling of darkness. She laughed nervously, "Maybe I should be going back to dorm right about…NOW!" She immediately ran off toward her dorms.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound of a wolf howling that caught Izumi's ears. The girl abruptly stopped in her tracks, "A wolf? Since when's there a wolf on an island?"

Then suddenly next, there was a moaning sounds of pain and grief. Izumi cringed at those noise, "…those are not ghosts…those are not ghosts…Calm down, Izumi, you'll be safe once you get back to the dorms…." Then she felt a touch of cold on the back of her neck. Her eyes widened out of fear and her screams spread throughout the island.

Izumi was running for her life. She was charged by her adrenaline caused by her fear. Suddenly, she faced a ghastly head floating toward her. Her entire body turned white and her eyes turned blank out of pure shock. She screamed, "Ghost!" She ran off in another direction just to face another ghost, this time it has a body but…no head. Izumi cried, "Nooooooooooooooooo!" Suddenly, a hand touched her shoulder, "Ahhhh!"

"…Ouch…" Alexander smiled slightly, "…that really hurt my ears…" He rubbed his poor ears.

Izumi quickly looked back, "Alex!" Her eyes quivered, "Are you real?"

Alexander blinked, "Um…in flesh and blood?" He smiled slightly with confusion.

Izumi sniffled, "Wahhhhhhhh!" She cried on him.

After a good cry, Izumi explained everything to Alexander.

"Hmm," Alexander confirmed, "You refuse a challenge from Domon Yaku and now you're haunted."

Izumi sniffled as she nodded, "Hai…I shouldn't refuse to duel if I knew that I'm going to be haunted by ghosts…"

"Domon Yaku," Alexander chuckled, "I heard of that name."

"You do?" Izumi asked as she stopped sniffling.

Alexander affirmed, "Hai. Domon is notoriously famous in Ra Yellow for playing scary pranks on his fellow grade. Others said that he did this because he enjoyed the thrill of inflicting fear to his victims."

"He sounded awful," Izumi blinked as she realized, "Scary pranks?"

Alexander nodded, "Hai…if I'm right…" He walked into a nearby bush and found a hidden boom box, "There...this is the source of the noises you heard…" He pressed play and the sound of wolf howling played again.

Izumi cringed at the sound and then twitched, "You mean…all those scary things were just pranks of Domon?" She smacked her fists, "Good thing, I refuse to duel with that jerk!"

Alexander smiled, "But if you don't duel, he'll still continue to play pranks on you hence haunting you forever."

"HA!" Izumi declared, "Now that I know they're pranks, I'm no longer afraid!"

Alexander smiled, "I guess you're not scared of the ghost behind you then."

"What ghost?" Izumi looked back and faced a bloody ghost, "!" She jumped on Alexander.

Alexander was carrying poor frightened Izumi bridal style. He laughed, "It's just a hologram…even though you know they're pranks, you're easily scared, aren't you, Izumi?"

Izumi groaned, "…fine, I'll go duel that guy…" She had no choice but to duel Domon. She didn't want to deal with a crazy guy but she didn't want to face the rest of her school years dealing with pranks of horror.

Alexander let her down, "I'll go tell your friends." He smiled, "Good luck."

"Thanks, Alex," Izumi sighed, "Why is it always me who get to suffer?" She walked the opposite way of the dorms. She headed toward the mountains that she supposedly heard where the abandoned dorms were.

After walking couple of minutes down the old dirt pathway, Izumi finally reached her destination. At the bottom of the mountains, there was an old abandoned building with shattered windows and broken down doors. There were tall weeds covering the front and rotten vines covering the walls. The abandoned dorms hid under the shadow of the mountains, making the dorms creepier than before. Izumi took a deep breath, "Here goes." She took a giant step of courage and walked inside the old dorm. When she stepped inside, she could see the run-down carpets and the peeling walls. She looked around to see any signs of life but there wasn't any with the exceptions of rats and bugs. She frowned, "Where the hell is Domon?" She yelled, "Hello? I'm here to duel you!" There was no answer which just made Izumi more pissed, "You challenged me! Why don't you come out and show yourself, you big coward?"

The entrance doors suddenly closed behind her with a loud bang, scaring the hell out of Izumi. She shouted, "Ah!" She quickly looked toward the door, "It must be the wind…" She prayed that was the right answer.

"Boo." A icy chilling voice whispered into the Osiris Red's ear, sending shivers down her spine.

Izumi just stood there in complete shock of fear. Her body then shook from the top to the bottom as she felt the icy shivers went down her spine. She then gave the loudest scream of her life.

* * *

Kurai blinked.

Tsubaki winced, "Man, that's another scream tonight…"

* * *

"Muwhahahahahahaha! That was simply beautiful and exhilarating…" Domon swooned as he really enjoyed that scream.

Izumi was hiding behind a broken down table found inside the old dorms, "It's…a…real live ghost!" She cried.

Domon twitched, "I'm not a ghost! I'm Domon!"

"A demon?" Izumi wailed, "That's even worse!"

"Domon! Not demon!" Domon corrected, "I'm a living human being!"

Izumi blinked, "…you're a human?...that thin and pale?" She shuddered, "That's kinda freaky…"

Domon twitched even more, " Don't insult me! Never mind that…" He pointed to Izumi dramatically with his boney finger, "I challenge you to a duel!"

Izumi raised her hand.

Domon replied, "…Yes?"

Izumi put her hand down and questioned, "Before we duel, may I ask is there any specific reason why you want to duel me?"

Domon chuckled as his glasses flashed, "A reason you asked? There's not really one. I just hate how an Osiris Red duelist like you managed to get in this Academy without taking the exams.."

Izumi sweat-dropped, "…that again?...Jeeze, if I could reverse time, I would definitely take the exams to avoid all this crap…"

"Silence!" Domon roared, "To prove your inferiority to Ra Yellow, I will beat you in a duel!" He laughed proudly and evilly.

Izumi sweat-dropped even more, "Do I really have a choice?"

Few minutes later, both duelists were standing on the opposite sides in what was once to be a huge grand living room. They both put their decks into their duel disks and yelled, "Duel!"

"I'll go first!" Izumi claimed the first turn, "Draw!" She drew her card, totaling the number of cards in her hand to six. She then snatched one card from her hand, "I summon Love Maiden [**M1(2/400/400)**] in ATK!" A tiny girl dressed in a fancy yellow dress arrived on the field with a slight cute giggle.

Domon gaped.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Is something wrong?"

Domon quivered, "…c…..cu…..Cute!" He screamed out of absolute madness.

Izumi screamed back, "Ahhhh! What?" She was scared of what Domon was going to do next.

Domon finally stopped screaming. His black cargo pants dropped right away, revealing his skull heads boxers, and then he just fainted on the floor.

Izumi just sweat-dropped, "What the hell?"

**TBC**

**Card used in Duel (well not much of a duel)**

**M1 - ****Love Maiden: Light/Angel/2/400/400**: Effect: If this Monster is in attack mode, it cannot be destroyed as a result of Battle. When this Monster is attacked by your opponent place 1 [Maiden Counter] on the attacker.


	7. 4B: The Invasion of the Chinese Zombies!

**Author's note: **This is truly one long duel. I don't think any duels in future episode will be long as this unless it was a two-part episodes but never again, I don't want to write this long for a duel. Also, this is a very quick update because this is one of the old chapters rewritten. And since this is the duel chapter, when someone use a card, I used (M1) for monster, (S1) for magic, and (T1) for trap. If you use Ctrl + F, this will bring you to the card's effect at the end of the page and also bring you back to the middle of the chapter.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yugioh and credit goes GLL99 for Yugioh GX episode 4 subs. Also, credit goes to Lux-Nero for Domon's character and deck.

**Episode 4 Part B!**

Instantly, the screen displayed Kurai with the E-Merc Flame Berserker in the background. And of course, at the bottom right corner was the logo of Yugioh GX!

Kurai stared at the screen boredly.

The narrator sweat-dropped at Kurai's action and couldn't help but asked, "Um…Yuki?"

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "Why is it Flame Berserker? Is he my trump card or something?"

The narrator sweat-dropped, "Of course not! But I'm writing down two new monster cards! I wouldn't want to spoil the readers right away from the start."

Kurai narrowed his eyes into a killer gaze, "Those new monsters you mentioned….they better be powerful."

The narrator gulped as sweat drops poured down his body. He replied nervously, "Of course…yet!" He immediately went back to his computer to change couple of words, "Please don't kill me!"

* * *

Meanwhile back in the abandoned dorms, three boys were exploring. Tsubaki was leading the way with his flashlight brightening their pathway.

"Why am I here?" Kurai asked annoyingly while following Tsubaki.

Tsubaki, of course, noticed Kurai's tone of annoyance and twitched "Nobody asked you to join us to look for Izumi, stupid stiff."

POW!

"Ouch!" Tsubaki winced as he rubbed the bump on his head.

Kurai brushed the dust off his hands, "You didn't ask. You dragged me, moron."

Alexander laughed, "Come on now, Yuki. Izumi is a friend of ours. It is our responsibility to look for her especially when she has been gone for so long. After all, she is a lone teenage girl alone at night…who knew what could happen to her."

Kurai narrowed his amber eyes toward Alexander and shrugged it off, "Experiences are necessary for life."

Tsubaki cringed and retorted, "Izumi don't need those experiences yet! Beside she's only 15!"

Kurai looked at Tsubaki as he was an absolute idiot, "And your point?"

Tsubaki twitched, "My point is…she, who is the same age as us, is too young to do those sort of things!..." He sweat-dropped, "Although it is quite common in America….those sort of experiences." He blushed slightly.

"Duh." Kurai replied coldly.

Alexander smiled, "My, I wonder what kind of experiences you guys are talking about."

Tsubaki blushed, "Well…you know…"

Alexander smiled more, "Actually, I don't know."

"…..Never mind." Tsubaki decided to push the subject aside and continued searching for Izumi.

With their luck, they eventually reached the living room where they saw a familiar person tied up in chains hanging from the ceiling.

Izumi heard the door opened and she glanced down toward the entrance from her spot. She called, "Tsubaki! Yuki! Alex!"

"Eh? How did you get up there?" Tsubaki shouted as he was completely surprised.

Izumi answered, "Well, let's see. I magically summoned my wings and flew up there…" She snapped as she shook her own chained body, trying to break free, "Geeze, how do you think I got up here? Domon did this!"

Alexander smiled, "I'm surprised that a pale and thin man like Domon managed to lift you up there."

"Alex." Izumi called his name.

Alexander smiled, "Hai?"

Izumi roared, "Can it!"

Alexander sweat-dropped, "Ah, quite rude."

"Izumi!" Tsubaki yelled back at her, "Domon didn't do anything to you, right?"

"Beside the fact that he tied me up and left me hanging from the ceiling?" Izumi replied sarcastically.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "I mean, did he steal anything from you?"

Izumi groaned, "My pride and my dignity!"

Tsubaki blinked, "Oh, you didn't lose it, then?"

"Lose what?" Izumi twitched out of impatience.

"Well, you know…" Tsubaki blushed slightly, "I mean you're a girl alone at the middle of the night in an abandoned building with a male."

"No, I don't know what! You're not making any sense! Just get me down already!" Izumi had no idea what Tsubaki asked and she didn't really care because she was very anxious to get down.

Tsubaki sighed as he blushed out of embarrassment, "You know…your innocence."

"Oh," Izumi now realized what Tsubaki meant. She blushed intensely and then she cracked, "Of course not! I'm still innocent but that's not the point! I just want to get downnnnnnnnnn!"

Kurai crossed his arms and sighed.

Izumi twitched, "Don't even think about being bored, Yuki!"

Suddenly, a very loud evil laugh was heard. The laugh spread throughout the entire living room, creating very creepy echoes. Then immediately, all the doors leading to the living room slammed closed.

Tsubaki frantically looked around, trying to find any opened doors, "What the hell is going on?"

Alexander smiled as he remained composed, "This must be the work of Domon."

Kurai narrowed his amber eyes as he tried to search for someone. He then finally noticed Domon who was standing next to the hook that the chain holding Izumi was tied to.

Domon smirked as he chuckled evilly, "So, you finally arrived, Kurai Yuki! I have been waiting for you since I knew you would come to rescue your little girlfriend here."

Kurai looked at Domon with a carefree stare.

"Oh? Speechless, are you?" Domon snickered, "You must be so scared of me."

Kurai replied boredly, "Not really. You just looked like freak." Domon gaped, "And the ditz is not my girlfriend," Domon gaped even more, "And I didn't really want to come here. I was simply dragged against my free will." Domon gaped more than ever.

Domon twitched, "I'm not a freak! Whatever reason you have, you're here anyway! It is my mistake that I challenged Miss Izumi because I thought she's the one who beat the Professor."

Alexander smiled, "You're mistaken, alright. Yuki is the one who defeat the Professor."

Domon spat, "I knew that! Thanks to Miss Izumi, I finally found out the truth! Now, Kurai Yuki, I challenge you to a duel!"

"Declined." Kurai crossed his arms.

"Eh?" Domon blinked and then he gritted his teeth out of frustration, "How dare you mock me! You, Osiris Red, think you're so much better than Ra Yellow?" He smirked, "If you don't duel me, I won't unlock the exits." He laughed manically.

"What?" Tsubaki exclaimed and he glared at Kurai, "Yuki, you better duel him if we want to save Izumi and get out of here!"

Kurai twitched, "Or, I can just kick his ass."

"Eh?" Domon blinked as he abruptly stopped laughing.

Alexander smiled, "That's another choice."

Kurai smacked his fists, "You made me pissed off, rotten freak." He walked closer toward Domon.

"No!" Domon panicked as he tried to think of something. He quickly thought of a plan and touched the chains tied around the hook, "Walk any more and I'll drop Izumi to her death!"

All three male duelists were shocked. Well, mostly Tsubaki was shocked since Kurai was only slightly shocked and Alex only frowned slightly.

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?" Izumi screamed, "You're actually thinking of murdering me?"

Kurai smirked, "I bet you don't have the guts."

Izumi twitched, "Yuki! Don't provoke him!"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Yeah, Yuki, Domon might actually be serious…"

Alexander pointed out, "Yes, you can see all the madness in his eyes. If you do not duel him, Izumi will not only suffer but us too."

Kurai scoffed, "I'll just beat him up then." He walked even closer.

Domon panicked again, "Ah! Don't even think about it!" He loosened the chains slightly.

"Ahhhhh!" Izumi fell few inches down. Her eyes quivered and her body shook with pure anger. She scolded, "Yuki, if you get me dead, I swear I'll haunt you forever and it's not going to be pretty!"

Kurai twitched, "Damn." He groaned, "Fine, let's duel."

Domon laughed manically as the tide turned in to his favor which made Kurai even more pissed off.

* * *

The dueling field was set and both duelists had their duel disks. They both shouted the magic word, "Duel!"

"I'll go first. Draw." Kurai drew his card from his duel disk and added it to his hand. He snatched one card and slammed it down horizontally on his duel disk, "I summon E-Merc Stone Guarder [**M1(4/800/1200)**] in defense!" A tall muscular bodybuilder came to the Field. He wore a helmet with small curved horns and thick stone armor. He also possessed spiked shoulder pads and legs coverings. The warrior was entirely made out of stone and he wielded a giant stone shield with spikes on the edge that was half of his size. He crouched behind his stone shield in defense, "I'll end my turn."

Domon smirked, "Being defensive, aren't we? Draw!" He drew his card and played one card, "I summon Kyonshi – Geisha [**M2(2/350/1650)**] in attack mode!" Suddenly, a small stone grave rose high from the ground. The stone then cracked into uneven halves as a pale-blue skinned woman arose from her grave. She was dressed in a silk red Chinese dress with fine golden lines around the edges. The dress would have shone with luster but it was dirtied from being in the grave so long and torn from age. Her greasy black hair was neatly tied up in a bun with few messy strings sticking out. Her face was entirely covered by a single talisman attached to her forehead. Suddenly, Domon's fusion deck glowed and a card came flying out. The fusion card landed perfectly in Kurai's fusion deck.

Kurai stared at his fusion deck with slight confusion and glared, "What the hell you just did?"

Domon chuckled, "When I normal summoned Kyonshi-Geisha successfully, I can choose one Fusion monster from my deck and add that monster to your deck."

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "Why?"

Domon laughed, "I'm not telling! Also, Kyonshi-Geisha has another effect! I can add one continuous Trap Card from my deck to my hand." His deck ejected one card and Domon grabbed it, "The card I picked is Life Essence Absorption!" Domon's trap card had a picture of numerous Chinese Zombies standing around a lone martial artist. There were auras floating out of the Chinese Zombies and entering the martial artist. The martial artist looked like he was in terrible pain as the auras merged into one pillar of life force sticking out of his back. Domon inserted a card into the M/T slot of his duel disk, "Then I placed one card face-down! Then I end my turn." A card materialized on Domon's M/T field. Domon snickered, "Be afraid…be afraid of what is about to come!" He laughed manically.

"What the hell is that?" Tsubaki asked.

"It's a Kyonshi," Alexander explained, "A Chinese Zombie." He smiled, "He must have a Chinese Zombie deck…how interesting."

"A Chinese Zombie?" Tsubaki's right eye twitched out of disgust, "It does fit Domon…"

Kurai looked at Domon with bored look and decided to ignore him, earning a "HEY" from Domon, "Draw." Kurai drew his card and put down one card vertically, "I summon E-Merc Bolt Assassin [**M3(4/1600/1000)**] in ATK mode!" A lightning struck the ground, summoning a warrior of lighting with blue electric wings, _'That freak must purposely put his monster in attack mode…is he trying to entice me and make me fall into his trap? …I'm not going to hesitate!'_ Kurai held his right hand forward, "Bolt Assassin! Attack Kyonshi-Geisha!" The lightning warrior's wings stretched out entirely and flapped few times. The lightning warrior suddenly soared above the field toward Domon's monster. As the E-Merc nearly reached his destination, electric claws suddenly erupted from his armored gloves. The assassin raised his claws high as he prepared to slice the Geisha into pieces.

"Not so fast! I activate my trap card, Calling of the Beautiful Kyonshi!" [**T1**] Domon activated his trap card, revealing an image of Kyonshi-Geisha dancing beautiful on a worn-down wooden stage with screens of bamboo paintings in the background, "This trap can only be activated when there's Kyonshi-Geisha on the field. When you attack my Kyonshi-Geisha, the first attack is negated," The Geisha suddenly moved around in front of the Bolt Assassin, dancing gracefully in fluid circles around the E-Merc.

Kurai complained with annoyance, "What the hell?"

Domon smirked, "And that's not all. I can inflict 800 damages to you too!" The Kyonshi-Geisha stopped dancing as she quickly pulled a hidden dagger out of her torn sleeves and tossed it directly at Kurai's forehead.

Kurai gritted his teeth as he braced the pain, "Shit."

Kurai: 4000 – 800 = 3200. Domon: 4000.

Izumi looked down with concerns in her eyes, "Yuki."

Kurai snatched two cards and placed it face-down, "I set one card face down and I end my turn." A face-down card appeared on his M/T side.

Domon laughed manically, "This is just the prelude to the horrors I set in store for you. Draw!" He drew his card and took one card from his hand, "I played Pot of Greed [**S1**] and draw two cards!" The spell card with a picture of the infamous green pot appeared and Domon drew two cards from his deck. He played one card, "I summon Polymer Kyonshi [**M4(4/1000/500)**] in attack mode!" Another slim gravestone rose from the ground and cracked in half, summoned another pale-blue skinned zombie. Except this time, it was an average sized yet muscular man dressed in a silk purple Chinese robe with black linens decorations over his baggy black pants. He wore a Chinese hat of the same color of his robe that covered his short hair and his face was covered by the talisman attached to the front of his hat.

Tsubaki claimed, "It's another Chinese Zombie!"

"Hmm, this one might be tough." Alexander claimed.

Suddenly, Domon's Fusion deck glowed again and another card flew out of it. The card entered Kurai's fusion deck once again. Kurai noticed it and glared at Domon, "Let me guess, the effect of that pile of dead crap you summoned."

Domon twitched, "Insult my Kyonshi and you will pay. When I normal summoned Polymer Kyonshi successfully, I can choose one Lv. 5 or lower Fusion monster from my Fusion Deck and add it to your. Not only that, I can increase this Kyonshi's ATK with the fusion monster I selected's ATK. Although the downside is that when this monster inflicts damage to my opponent, it only dealt half." The fusion monster that Domon sent had 2000 ATK. [Polymer Kyonshi: 1000 + 2000 = 3000]

Tsubaki gaped, "A 3000 ATK power monster?"

Alexander smiled, "That's why it has a downside of only inflicting half damage."

Tsubaki commented, "Still, that doesn't stop that Chinese zombie from plowing down any weak monsters."

Domon continued on with his turn, "I then play a field card, Bamboo Graveyard!" [**S2**] His duel disk's field slot ejected open, allowing Domon to place his field card in. Suddenly, hundreds of thick bamboos grew from the field and continued growing. Izumi gasped as she watched the top of the bamboos continued to grow until they reached the ceiling. Kurai immediately saw many gravestones in the forest of bamboos, giving off a dark aura that formed a black fog that shrouded the bamboos, making the entire field looked haunted.

Tsubaki shuddered slightly, "Man, this place looks scary."

Izumi twitched, "Oh wait till you get to see the top view."

Alexander smiled, "Nah, we're perfectly fine here. I wonder what Yuki will do now?"

Izumi's right eye twitched out of annoyance, "If anything, I hope Yuki finish the duel right away and get me down now…"

Domon explained, "This field card increased all Wind-Attribute Zombie-Type Monsters' ATL and DEF by 300!" [Polymer Kyonshi: 3000/500 + 300/300 = 3300/800] [Kyonshi Geisha: 350/1650 + 300/300 = 650/1950]

Kurai narrowed his eyes into a slight glare, "There's also a second effect, is there?"

Domon smirked, "Quite sharp, aren't you? Correct, there is a second effect. When my monsters were attacked in ATK mode, I can change them to DEF mode." He laughed manically.

Kurai gritted his teeth, "Annoying. You done yet?"

Domon twitched, "Your cocky attitude annoyed me. I, Ra Yellow, must teach you, Osiris Red, that there are norms to be followed!" He snatched another card from his hand, "I play spell card, Gift of the Fused!" [**S3**] The spell card appeared on the field, revealing an image of the Kyonshi holding a numerous fancy boxes of gifts tied up with silk red strings but covered by seal talismans, "My spell card only activated when there's Kyonshi on the field which you can see, I have two of them! I can choose up to 10 Fusion monsters and add them to your Fusion deck. For each fusion monster add, I get 300 Life Points!" He laughed manically as his Fusion deck flashed and ten cards came floating out of it. The ten cards then landed inside Kurai's Fusion Deck.

Kurai: 3200. Domon: 4000 + 3000 = 7000.

Tsubaki gaped, "A 7000 Life Points?"

"I see," Alexander pointed out, "The purpose of the Chinese Zombie deck must to control the battle field, dealing effect damage, and recovery."

Tsubaki gulped, "Well, that's helluva recovery. Does Yuki stand a chance?"

Alexander smiled, "We'll see."

Kurai looked at his Duel Disk. He was staring at his Fusion Deck, "…you dare add more crap into it just to increase your Life Points? Do you even plan to use those Fusion monsters at all?"

Domon chuckled, "They're just Fusion monsters to help me with my Kyonshi deck. They're just food to my precious Kyonshi. Plus, I don't even have the materials to fuse into all those monsters I given you." He laughed evilly.

Kurai remained staring at his Fusion deck, "So for the sake of other purposes, you just discarded them as they were nothing. Those fusions monsters you sent may be crap…but you're worse than that." He glared at Domon with the death eyes, "You're a piece of scum for using them like this."

Domon cringed in fear but glared back, "Who do you think you're talking to? You're just Osiris Red! You're a dropout!"

"Pathetic." Kurai replied dully.

Tsubaki blinked in confusion, "Why did Yuki care so much about fusion monsters?"

Alexander smiled slightly, "Don't you remember? Yuki's true strength lies in the fusions of his allies. Fusion monsters are double edged swords. The prices are high to bring them out but their effects may be worth it. So Yuki must have lot of faith into those fusions. Domon in the other hand use those fusions monsters to increase his Life Points and enhance his Kyonshi's ATK strength. The very purpose of fusion monsters was betrayed and Yuki felt furious."

"Oh…" Tsubaki understood.

Domon gritted his teeth, "Curse you, Osiris Red Dropout, I play this spell card, Violent Fusion!" [**S4**] The spell card that arrived on the field had a picture of a hand declaring fusion. In the middle of the picture, there was a familiar dragon and monster of Polymerization card trying to fuse together but exploded in failure. The explosion nearly consumed the opposing player, "You can randomly select one Fusion Monster from my Fusion deck and add it to your." Domon's Fusion Deck suddenly revealed in holographs to Kurai. Kurai just hissed out of annoyance as he randomly picked one card and that card was added to Kurai's Fusion deck, "Not only that but I get to also inflict 1000 damage to your Life Points!" He laughed evilly.

Kurai gritted his teeth.

Kurai: 3200 – 1000 = 2200. Domon: 7000.

Domon laughed proudly, "Ha! Ha! Your life points are slowly dwindling. Allow me to take more away by attacking your Bolt Assassin with Polymer Kyonshi!" Polymer Kyonshi went into a martial art pose. In an instant, he disappeared and suddenly appeared behind the Bolt Assassin with a backbone-breaking kick. The Bolt Assassin was sent crashing to the ground from behind and shattered into thousand pieces, "Normally, I would have done 1700 damage to your Lifepoints but according to my monster's effect, the damage is reduced to half."

Kurai glared.

Kurai: 2200 – 850 = 1350. Domon: 7000.

"But you activate my trap card," Kurai pressed the button on his duel disk and flipped his facedown card up, "Hired Mercenary!" [**T2**] His face down card flipped up, revealing a picture of a mercenary swordsman charging with the familiar greedy Goblin Merchant cowering behind him, seeking for protection., "When my monster is destroyed as the result of battle, I can special summon a lv. 4 or lower E-Merc monster from my deck. The monster I chose is E-Merc Tempest Lady!" [**M5**] A small tornado struck the field from Kurai's deck. The tornado disappeared and revealed the hawk lady in sky blue armor and gray wings stretched open fully.

Domon chuckled, "What a weak monster you have." He took the last three cards of his hand and inserted them into the M/T slots, "I place three cards face down and I ended my turn."

"Draw!" Kurai drew his card.

"I activate my trap card!" Domon declared, "Life Essence Absorption!" [**T3**] Domon's face-down card flipped itself up.

Kurai narrowed his eyes, _'It's the same trap card that he got with Geisha.'_

Domon explained, "Every time a zombie-type monster is special summoned, you take 300 lifepoints of damage and I gain 500 lifepoints."

Kurai twitched, "I'm guessing one of your face down cards special summon the undead?"

Domon smirked, "Correct, I activate my other trap card, Dare into the Dark!" [**T4**] His second trap card revealed itself with a picture of many Kyonshi rising from the black soil ground, dressed in white Chinese robes and cap. They wore black talisman over their pale blue skin faces, "This trap card allow to special summon three Kyonshi tokens in ATK!" [Kyonshi Token: Dark/Zombie/4/1000/1000] Suddenly, three tiny gravestones erupted from the floor, the stones cracked into pieces, revealing three kyonshi dressed in white Chinese robes tied with black strings over black pants. They also wore white cap with black linen edge and a black talisman over their faces, "However, these tokens cannot attack, change their battle positions, or be sacrificed for Tribute Summon."

"Their ATK didn't increase." Kurai pointed that out.

"Eh?" Domon blinked with slight confusion in his voice.

Kurai crossed his arms, "Their ATK doesn't increase which means they're not affected by this field card….and they're obviously zombies….so what main type are they?"

Domon sweat-dropped, "Dark…but never mind that! Because I special summon three Kyonshis, I gain 1500 Life Points and you lose 900 Life Points!" His permanent trap card glowed and shot two lines of aura. One aura line entered Domon peacefully and the other shot through Kurai's chest. Kurai winced as he braced the pain.

Kurai: 1350 – 900 = 450. Domon: 7000 + 1500 = 8500.

Kurai narrowed his eyes as he stared at his own Life Points in tiny display on his duel disk.

Izumi cried, "Yuki!"

Tsubaki panicked, "AHH! Domon now has 8000 more Life Points than Yuki!"

Alexander was in deep thought as he put his hand under his chin. He then smiled, "This might be trouble."

Tsubaki twitched and snapped, "This is trouble!" He roared with red angry eyes and white razor teeth.

Alexander just laughed softly as he remained calm.

Domon just laughed manically, "Well, Osiris Red Dropout, you witness the true horror of my Kyonshi deck, do you wish to give up?" He smirked, "I might spare you."

Kurai glared, "Shut your trap, as long as I have my deck, it won't fail me right now or anytime! I play Graceful Charity!" [**S5**] He played a spell card that contained a picture of the angel holding a card above her glowing hands, "I get to draw three cards," He snatched the top three cards and added them to his hand, "Then I discard two cards." He selected two cards and sent it to the Graveyard, "The next card I play is Splitting the Loot! [**S6**] He played his second spell card which contained a picture of two mercenaries clasping each other's hands as they made a deal with a treasure map pinned to the wall by a dagger in the background, "Splitting the Loot is almost the same as Fusion Recovery except I can pick any E-Merc monster from the Graveyard while Fusion Recovery required a fusion material monster used in fusion. I pick E-Merc Bolt Assassin, the monster you killed and Polymerization, the card I discarded with Graceful Charity. Say, freak, do you know why I picked E-Merc Tempest Lady from my deck?"

Domon twitched at the name calling but answered anyway, "Obviously to fuse it with your monster."

Kurai smirked, "True but that's not all Tempest Lady can do. I play a spell card, Tornado Duster!" [**S7**] His third spell card had a picture of wind swirling with gray feathers and cards, "This card can only work when there's Tempest Lady on the field, I can destroy all your magic and trap cards!"

Domon gaped out of pure shock, "What?"

Tempest Lady soared high toward the ceiling and stopped there. She repeatedly flapped her wings until she created a huge tornado that span around the forest of bamboos, sucking in the leaves and the gravestones. Izumi screamed as she actually felt the force of the tornado pulling her in but luckily for her, she was still tied up. The tornado vanquished the bamboo graveyard and then Domon's two permanent trap cards. The tornado continued on its path to destroy Domon's last trap card.

Domon groaned as he braced the tornado. He outstretched his right hand, "I activate my face-down card, Interfere and Defend!" [**T5**] Domon's trap card showed the picture of the Kyonshi defending their talisman master.

Kurai glared, "What is that supposed to do?"

Domon smirked, "Why don't you find out for yourself?"

"I don't need to!" Kurai played the fourth spell card from his hand, "I play Polymerization! I fuse E-Merc Tempest Lady and E-Merc Flame Berserker!" He sent the Flame Berserker card from his hand after playing Polymerization to the Graveyard. Suddenly, the pillar of fire erupted from the ground. Tempest Lady hugged her arms as she suddenly changed into tornado. The tornado became one with the pillar of fire and created a blazing tornado. The fiery tornado exploded, revealing an orange and blue skinned warrior with hawk's head on its left arm, "To summon E-Merc Blazing Windman!" [**M6(6/2100/1200)**] Kurai summoned another monster, "Then I normal summon E-Merc Bolt Assassin in ATK mode!" A lightning struck the field and the assassin with electric wings returned.

Kurai declared, "I now conduct my battle phase!"

"And thus begin the effect of my trap card, Interfere and Defend!" Domon interrupted.

"What?" Kurai glared.

Domon explained, "When you conduct a battle phase, all of your monsters must attack and I get to choose the targets."

Kurai's glare grew even intense.

"Let's see. You have three monsters, so the three targets I chose for you are the Kyonshi tokens!" Domon selected his choices.

'_The freak wanted me to attack those tokens in attack mode…something's up…'_ Kurai declared, "Blazing Windman, destroy it with Blazing Hawk!" The mercenary's hawk's beak snapped opened, revealing a purple fireball in its mouth. The warrior launched the fireball that quickly changed into a hawk. The hawk touched the white Kyonshi and created a large explosion.

Kurai: 450. Domon: 8500 – 1100 = 7400.

"Bolt Assassin, kill with Killer Thunder!" The Bolt Assassin instantly soared toward the white Kyonshi and sliced the zombie into three even pieces.

Kurai: 450. Domon: 7400 – 600 = 6800.

Tsubaki was confused, "How come Yuki didn't use E-Merc Blazing Windman's effect?"

Alexander answered, "It's because it wouldn't work. It only works when the monster he destroyed was sent to the Graveyard. But the E-Merc only destroyed the token."

Domon chortled, "The only left is your Stone Guarder who has weaker ATK than my token! He'll be destroyed and you'll lose your Life Points." He laughed.

"Not unless if I can help it. I play Quick-play Spell card, Revolutionary Weapon!" [**S8**] Kurai played one card from his hand, the spell card that contained a picture of numerous warriors holding their powerful weapons in defensive positions, defending the castle, "This card allow me to switch the ATK and DEF of all monsters on the field! So your token's ATK remained 1000 but E-Merc Stone Guarder's ATK is now 2000. Stone Guarder, attack with Stone Crush!" The stone warrior appeared in front of the white Kyonshi. He raised his stone shield high and then crushed the zombie as he brought the shield down.

Kurai: 450. Domon: 6800 – 1000 = 5800.

Domon smirked. His smirk then grew into an evil laugh.

Kurai glared as he was saying now what.

Domon laughed evilly, "Victory is now mine! You have lost, dropout!"

Kurai's eyes widened slightly in confusion.

"What?" Tsubaki was also confused too.

"Huh?" Izumi questioned, "How?"

Domon smirked, "For each Kyonshi token you destroyed, you lose 300 Lifepoints. You destroyed three tokens, therefore you lose 900 Lifepoints."

Tsubaki's eyes widened in shock, "That's why his Tokens were in attack mode."

"Oh…that's it." Kurai sighed out of relief.

"…that's it?" Domon blinked and he gaped, "Where's the fear? Where's the horrified look of great loss? Where's the misery and despair?"

Kurai played the last card in his hand, "I play Emergency Provisions." [**S9**] His spell card had the picture of military food cans and crackers, "For each spell or trap card on my side of the field I sent to the graveyard with this card, I gain 1000 Lifepoints."

Domon questioned, "But you have no other spell or trap cards on your field."

"There is one." Kurai admitted, "I chained Emergency Provisions with Revolutionary Weapon!"

Tsubaki blinked in confusion, "Huh?"

Alexander smiled, "He sent Revolutionary Weapon to the graveyard with Emergency Provisions but since he activated Revolutionary Weapon already. The effect still remains on the field even when the card is supposedly destroyed by Emergency Provisions."

Kurai crossed his arms since he had no cards left in his hand, "Thus I gain 1000 Lifepoints and lose 900 Lifepoints."

Kurai: 450 + 1000 – 900 = 550. Domon: 5800.

Domon growled out of frustration and annoyance, "You may live this turn but I'll rid of you the next turn! Draw!" He glanced at the card he just drawn and the only card he had. He slowly smirked, "It seemed my horror will never stop. Heh. Heh. Heh. I played Treasure of Slashing Life!" [**S10**] Domon played the infamous Kaiba Spell card that had a picture of man holding cards while his hand is right under the guillotine, "Since I have no cards, I get to draw five cards!" He drew five cards, "Of course, five turns later, I must discard my entire hand but that's more than enough." He grinned evilly as he looked at his new hand, "Because this turn, I'll finish you!"

Domon snatched one card and placed it vertically, "I summon Fusioh Kyonshi!" [**M7(3/950/800)**] Another gravestone erupted from the field and cracked into pieces. Another pale-blue skin zombie arrived but this time, he was dress in green Chinese robe along with the cap of the same color. Of course, the usual symbol of the Kyonshi, the talisman over the face, "While ago, you asked me why I kept adding my Fusion monsters to your Fusion deck," He smirked, "This is the reason why! When Fusioh Kyonshi inflicts damage to my opponent, I can do 100 points of damage to you for each Fusion Monster in your Fusion deck!"

Tsubaki gaped, "EH? That means…let's see…" He counted his fingers, "Domon's fusions and…Ahhh! I don't know how many fusions that Yuki has!"

Alexander smiled, "This could be troubling, indeed."

Tsubaki yelled, "How can you be so calm at a time like this!"

Domon ordered, "Now! Fusioh Kyonshi! Attack E-Merc Stone Guarder!" Since Kurai's turn ended, the E-Merc Stone Guarder's original ATK strength returned, which was 800. The green robed Kyonshi held his arms high, showing that his sleeves were bigger than his arms until suddenly hundred of talismans came flying out of his sleeves and headed straight toward Stone Guarder, "Victory is mine!" He laughed evilly.

Talismans suddenly bounced off a black shield that surrounded Kurai's E-Merc monsters. Domon gasped, "What?"

Kurai held his duel disk arm up and suddenly the disk ejected a card. Kurai grabbed the card in time, "I remove Yami Kuriboh [**M8(1/300/200)**] from the Graveyard to activate his effect. I can reduce Battle Damage or Effect Damage to zero till the end of the turn. The one I chose is Battle Damage. Since your pathetic walking pile of shit doesn't inflict any damage to me, it can't use its effect." His amber eyes narrowed into the glare of death as he warned, "Try to touch my Fusion deck and I'll make sure you'll see something worse than Hell."

Domon actually cringed at Kurai's threat. He gulped and tried to remember when Yami Kuriboh did go to the Graveyard. He realized, 'The dropout must have discarded Yami Kuriboh with Graceful Charity…that cocky bastard!' He chuckled, "I praise your skills as a duelist. You're quite good for a dropout. But even if you did prevent the deadly effect of my Fusioh Kyonshi, you still won't prevent my trump card!" He grabbed one card from his hand and inserted it into his M/T slot, "I play Traveling a Corpse over a Thousand Li!" [**S11**] His ritual spell card showed an interesting picture of a black wooden grave box covered with many golden talismans all over. The talisman covered box was surrounded by circle of purple candles with lit flames.

"A ritual spell?" Kurai prepared for the worst.

Domon continued, "I sacrifice Fusioh Kyonshi, Polymer Kyonshi, and Kyonshi – Geisha!" All three colorful Kyonshi dissolved into three different colored rays of light that were suddenly sucked into the black wooden grave box that appeared on the field, "Arise! Talisman Kyonshi Master!" [**M9(9/1300/666)**] The lid of the box slowly slid opened until it fell off completely. A pale-blue skin man slowly rose from his grave dressed in red silk Chinese robe. It was different from karate robes that the other Kyonshi wore. No, this robe was the Imperial robe that presented higher status. His red Imperial robe had thick golden linens at the edge of the sleeves. He wore blue beads around his neck and a black Chinese hat topped with a blue feather. His hat was also attached with a gold talisman written with black ink.

Tsubaki gaped, "A Level 9 monster?" He sweat-dropped, "With 1300 ATK and…666 DEF? What a weird number for DEF."

Alexander smiled, "If it is a high level monster with a weak ATK, then it must have a powerful effect."

Domon confirmed, "Correct you are. When Talisman Kyonshi Master is summoned, it destroys all monsters except this card!" He laughed manically.

Kurai's eyes widened, "What?" The Talisman master suddenly tossed three purple talismans that attached themselves to the head of three E-Merc monsters. The purple talismans glowed until they suddenly flash, creating a huge black explosion that consumed them all. Kurai silently cursed as all his monsters vanished.

Domon smirked, "And that's not all, when my ritual spell card is still on the field, once per turn, I can remove any monster I want from my deck. I increase Talisman Kyonshi Master's ATK and DEF by the ATK and DEF of the monster I removed from the deck. Plus, it can never be selected as an attack target. When there are other monsters on my field, this monster cannot be the attack target which means he can never be destroyed!" He laughed even more.

"What if your monster is alone?" Tsubaki asked.

"Regretfully, if Talisman Kyonshi Master is the only one on the field, then my opponent can attack me directly." Domom smirked, "But ha! Look at your hand! You have nothing! All of your fate depends on your next draw! And even when you do summon a monster, it won't be enough to get rid of my Life Points completely before my trump card defeat you.!"

Kurai glared then he was in deep thought, 'as much as I hate to admit, but the freak is right….since I have nothing left in my hands and everything depends on the next draw.' Kurai gulped slightly and mumbled, "Now, I really need luck."

Kurai closed his eyes as he could only remember one thing. The same amber eyes he owned but belonged to another person. The very person he wanted to beat. The very person that he created this deck to beat. He mused, _'I didn't came this far just to lose…if I'm going to lose…I rather lose to that one person only!'_ He touched the top card of his deck, "Draw!" He drew the card and opened his eyes. He smirked slightly as he declared, "I now play Pot of Greed!"

"Pot of Greed?" Domon gasped and groaned, _'How can he draw Pot of Greed at a time like this? Heh, no matter…two cards can't possible change the situation…can it?'_

Kurai drew two cards and smirked, "Heh…it seemed my deck never fail me."

Domon's eyes widened, "He drew a tide-turning cards?"

Kurai placed down the first card vertically, "I summon E-Merc Steel Cutter!" [**M10(4/1900/1100)**] A large muscular humanoid warrior appeared on the field. He was dressed in metallic black armor that was put over his chest and black spiked shoulder pads. He wore black greaves decorated with two large spikes and gloves that covered his callous hands. His stone-gray skinned arms and chests were revealed, showing that the armor does not entirely cover. He wore horn helmet that covered entirely his face and wielded a large axe that was black and the blade was glowing white, "The Mercenary of Metal arrives. Then I play my last card, Magnetic Fusion!" [**S12**] His new magic card showed the classic picture of a monster and a dragon swirling together except the colors were entirely metallic.

"Magnetic Fusion?" Tsubaki asked as he never heard of that card.

"What the hell is that?" Domon cried as he couldn't help but felt extremely nervous.

Kurai explained, "Magnetic Fusion is Polymerization card that only works for E-Merc Steel Cutter. Since Metal, Machine, Gold, or Technology is never really considered part of the six elementals types in Duel Monster Universe. This card allowed me to fuse E-Merc Steel Cutter with any Elemental Mercenary monster in my hand or field to create a powerful monster I need."

"Wait," Domon intervened, "You don't have any other monsters in your hand or on the field," He laughed, "You're just bluffing!"

Kurai stared at Domon as he was a moron. He closed his eyes, "Actually, I just forgot to mention the second effect."

"There's a second effect?" Domon shouted.

Kurai raised his Duel Disk near his right arm. The disk then ejected a card from his deck, letting Kurai grab it in time, "The second effect of Magnetic Fusion allows me to fuse my E-Merc Steel Cutter with any monster from my deck. When the Fusion is special summoned this way, it has to return to the Fusion deck at the end of the turn it is summoned. But E-Merc Steel Cutter gets to return back to the Field. The monster I chose from my deck is E-Merc Shadow Sage!" [**M11(5/1600/1800)**]

Suddenly, all the shadows rushed to one monster spot on the Field and merged into one black pillar of darkness. The pillar vanished, revealing a black mage. The mage was thin for a human and his skin color was pale violet like the night at its last moment before the sun rise. He dressed in beautiful black magician's robe covered his entire body except his head and his hands. The robe was decorated with shiny purple lines all around the edges of the sleeves and robe. He also wore a black boots and a black mask with bat wings on the sides and covered only his eyes, revealing his mouth and his short messy snow white hair. His short messy hairstyle and the smirk expressed in his mouth signaled his teenage youthfulness. Floating circled around the sage was a staff made out of burnt wood and endowed with a crystal blue orb on the top.

"Fuse!" Kurai declared. The Shadow Sage smirked as the orb on his staff flashed black. He dissolved into energy of darkness that first consumed Steel Cutter's axe and then entirely his body. The dark energy floated around E-Merc Steel Cutter's body as it was attracted to it like magnets. The dark energy finally dispersed, revealing a scary sight. It was a knight covered entirely in the blackest armor. His helmet shaped in the face of a demon with black visor over his eyes. On the sides of his black helmet were devil-shaped wings with fang bone earrings attached at the tip of the wings. His black shoulder pads were neatly curved and tall as it reached the half of his helmet. His greaves and leggings were designed to look evil, bringing more the feeling of wickedness to the knight. He wore a long black cape with red inner layer, making him seem like the king of terror. He wielded a long black blade with large sharp curves on both sides. The black knight held his sword high and suddenly, the sword emanated a blood red energy, forming a laser saber.

Izumi and Tsubaki stared at the new monster with surprise.

"Arrive, E- Merc Cursed Conqueror." Kurai announced. [**M12(8/2700/2500)**]

Domon quivered, "Cursed Conqueror?" He actually shook out of fear of this awesome darkness until his pants finally dropped, revealing his boxers. He quickly realized and pulled his pants up, "Ha! Your so-called Fusion monster only has the attack of 2700. Even with direct attack, that's not enough to defeat me!" Domon smirked, "When it becomes my turn, I'll remove a high level monster card from deck and add its ATK and DEF to my Talisman Kyonshi Master!"

Kurai ignored Domon as he continued, "The effect of Shadow Sage activates."

"EH?" Domon stared with surprise.

Kurai explained dully, "When E-Merc Shadow Sage is sent to the Graveyard from my Deck, I can revive a monster from my Graveyard. I revive E-Merc Blazing Windman!" The winged blue and orange skinned warrior soared from the grave and landed on the field.

Domon taunted, "HA! Even if you do summon more monsters, both monsters' attacks can't get rid of my life points."

"Actually, I only need E-Merc Cursed Conqueror to win for me," Kurai replied boredly, "I just felt like putting E-Merc Blazing Windman back on the field."

All stared at Kurai as he was one strange duelist. Domon snapped, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Kurai explained again, "There is a reason why my monster is called Cursed Conqueror. He wielded the cursed blood sword and thirsts for a fight. When I conduct battle phase, my Cursed Conqueror must continue fighting until you have no monsters or die against one of your powerful monsters." He declared, "So, Cursed Conqueror! Strike him down with Bloody Curse!" The black knight suddenly went into a fighting pose as he held the black sword with two hands. He suddenly launched forward toward the Talisman Kyonshi Master as his sword was a lance.

Domon scoffed, "HA! Talisman Kyonshi Master cannot be target of an attack. Even when alone, you can only do direct attack!" The black knight dashed through the Kyonshi and sliced vertically through Domon. Domon groaned as he braced the damage.

Kurai: 550. Domon: 5800 – 2700 = 3100.

Kurai just stood there and ordered, "Cursed Conqueror, attack again!"

Domon was surprised, "Again? How?"

Kurai explained, "I just told you. Cursed Conqueror is a cursed mercenary. It continue to fight until your monsters are destroyed or my cursed mercenary is destroyed. Since your so-called Trump Card still remains on the field and I can't target it. Cursed Conqueror will continue to attack you directly…forever."

"An endless chain…" Tsubaki muttered.

Alexander smiled, "The victor became obvious."

Domon paled, "Forever?" Suddenly, the black knight sliced Domon again. Domon screamed out of pain.

Kurai: 550. Domon: 3100 – 2700 = 400.

Kurai ordered again, "Again."

Domon screamed, "Nooo!" The black knight sliced Domon again in different direction.

Kurai: 550. Domon: 400 – 2700 = 0.

Domon panted as he was out of breath and deeply hurt out of shock, "I lost….how can I lose to a drop out?" He fell down on his knees and then noticed black armored boots still on the field. He looked up to see the Cursed Conqueror still standing there, holding his sword as he was ready to slice again. He whimpered, "Isn't it over already? You won!"

Kurai mumbled, "Thirteen times."

"Eh?" Domon whimpered more.

Kurai answered, "You send thirteen Fusion monsters into my Fusion Deck…" He narrowed his eyes into a death glare, "I told you…for using Fusions monsters for sick purposes…unforgivable…The Cursed Conqueror only struck three times…...so…ten more times." He gave Domon a thumb's down.

Domon screamed out of horror as the black knight continued on his bloody rampage, slicing the poor Ra Yellow duelist with merciless slashes.

Izumi was finally free. She rubbed her body since she was tied up for awhile. She chuckled, "Wasn't that kinda mean, Yuki? The way you finish Domon off?"

Kurai crossed his arms, "He deserved it."

Tsubaki laughed, "Beside, who are you to complain, Izumi? You know you like how Domon got punished especially when he did this to you."

Izumi sweat-dropped as she blushed out of embarrassment, "True…" She smiled, "Thanks, guys, for saving me…even though Yuki might have different purpose…"

Alexander smiled, "Oh I can't be sure about that…Yuki might have planned to save you from the start."

Kurai twitched and glared at Alexander with a message, 'Don't even think about it."

Alexander just laughed.

Tsubaki laughed too and he raised his hand high, "Alright, let's get outta here!"

Izumi cheered, "Yeah!"

* * *

At the dueling exam center at Duel Academia

"I summon this card, E-Hero Featherman and I attack the player directly!" Judai declared as the winged warrior soared toward his opponent. Manjoume could only scream in shock as the hero pierced through him with his razor nails and drained his LP to zero.

The audience cheered for Judai, "You did it!"

Sho clenched his fist in excitement, "You did it, Aniki!"

Chronos gasped, "To have that many rare cards and still lose…"

Samejima glanced at Chronos, "It appears that there were grounds for him beating you, Professor Chronos."

Chronos cringed and quickly walked away, "You really must excuse me."

Samejima chuckled as he looked back at the duel. Judai was basking in the audience cheers. He then did his signature pose, "Gotcha! That sure was a fun duel!"

Manjoume panted heavily as he couldn't believe that he lost to an Osiris Red. He glared at the Osiris Red, "Judai…"

Sho ran up to Judai, followed by Misawa, "Hey! Hey, Aniki!"

Samejima announced, "You have shown me, Yuki Judai. Your trust in your deck. Your passionate friendship with your monsters, and most importantly, a dueling soul that never gives up in a fight. These are the things I'm sure everyone has acknowledged. So, as the winner, Yuki-kun, you are being promoted to Ra Yellow!"

The audience cheered again, "Congratulations! Good going, Judai!"

"You're incredible! You're just awesome, Aniki!" Sho hugged Judai, "You've overwhelmed me!

Judai laughed, "Aren't I though?"

"Yuki Judai, congratulations, and welcome to Ra Yellow." Misawa offered his hand.

"Yeah!" Judai shook Misawa's hand. The audience cheered their congratulations again.

**TBC**

**

* * *

Izumi: **Yuki's new fusion monster is a Cursed Knight….how…scary…

**Tsubaki: **Man, what is it with the fantasy job classes?

**Izumi: **Well, it fits his Elemental Mercenaries. Eh, who is this guy in a black cloak?

**Tsubaki: **…I don't know…a random duelist from a mysterious organization?

**Izumi: **He looked familiar though but I'm sure…

**Tsubaki: **Wait a minute, I know this guy! He's famous for defeating many Pro League duelists!

**Izumi: **Eh, seriously? And Yuki challenge him?

**Next episode: Episode 5 – The Mysterious Challenger**

**Tsubaki: **Aw man, I really want to duel next!

**Izumi: **This isn't the time to be worried about that! We gotta help Yuki!

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Duel**

**Alexander: **Today's strongest card is the dreadful terrifying E-Merc Cursed Conqueror. A dark knight that can't be stopped by magic, trap, and effects. It continue to fight until it perish. A tragic knight indeed.

**Izumi shuddered: **This card looked scary! I wouldn't want to face this guy in an actual duel.

**Alexander: **You mustn't.

**Izumi blinked: **I mustn't what?

**Alexander: **If you face the Cursed Conqueror in a duel, you'll be cursed.

**Izumi: **Cursed?

**Alexander: **That's right. Once he dealt a direct attack to you, he'll start coming after you. Even when the duel is over, his spirit will revive and seek you. Once he finds you, he'll keep attacking you until you're dead. Why do you think that Domon will never appear again? He sadly passed away.

**Izumi: **NOOOOOOOO! I don't wanna die! Hey…wait a minute, I saw Domon in class today! ALEX!

**Alexander laughed: **Oh, Izumi, you're so gullible.

**

* * *

Cards used in this Duel**

**M1 - ****E-Merc Stone Guarder: Earth/Warrior/4/800/2000**

**M2 - ****Kyonshi – Geisha: Wind/Zombie/2/350/1650**: When this card is normal summoned successfully, you may select one Fusion monster in your Fusion deck and add it to your opponent's Fusion Deck. When this is done, you may add one continuous trap card from your deck to your hand.

**M3 - ****E-Merc Bolt Assassin: Light/Warrior/4/1600/1000**

**M4 - ****Polymer Kyonshi: Wind/Zombie/4/1000/500**: When this card is successfully normal summoned, you may select one level five or lower Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck and add it to your opponent's Fusion Deck. Increase the ATK of this card by the selected Fusion monster's ATK. When this card inflicts damage to your opponent's life points, halve this card's attack points.

**M5 - ****E-Merc Tempest Lady: Wind/Warrior/3/1000/1000**

**M6 - ****E-Merc Blazing Windman: Wind/Warrior – Fusion/6/2100/1200**: This card can only be special summoned by fusion summon. When this card destroys and sends a Monster to the graveyard in battle, do damage equal to the defense strength of the monster destroyed to your opponent.

**M7 - ****Fusioh Kyonshi: Wind/Zombie/3/950/800**: Effect: When this card inflicts damage to your opponent's life points, inflict 100 points of damage to your opponent's life points for each Fusion Monster in your opponent's Fusion Deck.

**M8 - ****Yami Kuriboh: Dark/Demon/1/300/200**: Effect: At any time, you can remove Yami Kuriboh from the Graveyard, to reduce Battle Damage or Effect Damage to zero till the End of the turn when this card was removed. You can only use this effect once per game.

**M9 -****Talisman Kyonshi Master: Wind/Zombie-Ritual/9/1300/666**: This card cannot be Special Summoned, except by the effect of** '**Traveling a Corpse over a Thousand Li'. When this card is summoned, destroy all Monsters you control except for this Monster. Once per turn, if "Traveling a Corpse over a Thousand Li" is face-up on the field, you can remove 1 Monster in your Deck from the game. This card's effect becomes the same as that Monster's. In addition, increase this card's ATK and DEF by the ATK and DEF of that Monster. This effect lasts until the End Phase. This card cannot be selected as an attack target (if you have no other monsters on the field other than this card, your opponent may attack you directly).

**M10 - ****E-Merc Steel Cutter: Earth/Warrior/4/1900/1100**: You can only activate this effect during a Battle Step of your turn. Decrease the ATK of this card by 500 points, then during battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. This effect continues until the End Phase of the turn this effect is activated.

**M11 - ****E-Merc Shadow Sage: Dark/Warrior/5/1600/1800**: Activate one of the following effects when this card is sent to the Graveyard:

- From the Deck: You can special summon a monster with (E-Merc) in its name except this one from your Graveyard.

- From the Hand: You can special summon a monster with (E-Merc) in its name from your Hand.

- From the Field: You can special summon two Lv. 4 or lower monsters with (E-Merc in its name from your Hand or your Graveyard.

**M12 - ****E-Merc Cursed Conqueror: Dark/Warrior-Fusion/8/2700/2500**: This monster cannot be destroyed by magic, trap, or effects that target this card. During your battle phase, this card must attack a monster on your opponent's side of the field or this card will be destroyed at the end of the turn. If the selected monster cannot be destroyed as the result of the battle, this card can attack your opponent directly. At the end of the turn, that selected monster is destroyed. When a monster on the opponent's field is destroyed by this card, you must take 500 points of damage.

**S1 - ****Pot of Greed – Spell**: Draw two cards from your deck.

**S2 - ****Bamboo Graveyard - Field Spell**: All WIND-Attribute Zombie-Type Monsters gain the following effects.  
- Increase the attack of all WIND-Attribute Zombie-Type Monsters gain 300 attack and defense points.  
- If one is attacked while in Attack Position, the controller can shift it to Defense Position. The controller chooses the timing for this effect.

**S3 - ****Gift of the Fused – Spell**: You can only activate this card when there's a face-up monster with [Kyonshi] in its name. you may select up to ten Fusion Monsters from your Fusion deck and add them to your opponent's Fusion Deck. For each Fusion Monster added to your opponent's Extra Deck, increase your life points by 300.

**S4 - ****Violent Fusion – Spell**: Your opponent randomly select one Fusion Monster from your Fusion deck. Add the selected card to your opponent's Fusion deck. Inflict 1000 points of damage to your opponent's life points.

**S5 - ****Graceful Charity – Spell**: Draw three cards from your deck and then discard two cards from your hand.

**S6 – ****Splitting the Loot – Spell**: Add 1 "Polymerization", and 1 "E-Merc" monster from your Graveyard to your hand. If you do not Fusion Summon successfully, you take 1000 damage.

**S7 - ****Tornado Duster – Spell**: You can only activate this card when there's [Tempest Lady] on the field. Destroys all of your opponent's Magic and Traps cards on the Field.

**S8 - ****Revolutionary Weapon – Quick-play Spell**: Switch the original ATK and DEF of all face-up monsters on the field until the end of the End Phase.

**S9 - ****Emergency Provisions – Quick-play Spell**: Send Spell or Trap Cards on your side of the field to the Graveyard except this card. Increase your Life Points by 1000 points for each card sent to the Graveyard.

**S10 - ****Treasure of Slashing Life – Spell**: Draw cards until you have 5 cards in your hand. Then 5 turns later, you must discard your entire hand to the Graveyard.

**S11 - ****Traveling a Corpse over a Thousand Li – Ritual Spell**: Used to Ritual Summon "Talisman Kyonshi Master". You must offer Zombie-Type Monsters whose total levels are equal to or greater than 9. You can remove Zombie-Type Monsters in your Graveyard that have dealt battle damage to your opponent to reduce the summoning cost of this card by 2 per 1000 damage it dealt while on the field. This card remains face-up on the field after activation.

**S12 - ****Magnetic Fusion – Spell**: You can only activate this card when there's [E-Merc Steel Cutter] on your side of the field. Send E-Merc Steel Cutter on the field and other Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on an "E-Merc" Fusion Monster Card from your hand or the side of the field to the Graveyard, and Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck. You may send the other Fusion Material Monster from your deck, Fusion Monster Special Summon this way will return to the Fusion deck at the end of the turn and return E-Merc Steel Cutter from the Graveyard to the Field. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.)

**T1 - ****Calling of the Beautiful Kyonshi – Continuous Trap**: If there is no "Kyonshi – Geisha" on your side of the field, destroy this card. During the first attack of your opponent's Battle Phase that targets "Kyonshi – Geisha", negate that attack and inflict 800 points of damage to their Life Points.

**T2 - ****Hired Mercenary – Trap**: This card can only be activated when one of your monster(s) on the field is destroyed as a result of battle. Special summon a monster with [E-Merc] in its name that is Level 4 or lower from your hand or deck.

**T3**** - ****Life Essence Absorption – Continuous Trap**: Each time a Zombie-Type Monster is Special Summoned, inflict 300 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points. Then, increase your life points by 500 points.

**T4 - ****Dare into the Dark – Trap**: Special Summon 3 Kyonshi Tokens (Zombie/Dark/4/1000/1000) to your side of the field in Attack Position. These tokens cannot declare an attack, change their Battle Position, or be tributed for a Tribute Summon. When a 'Kyonshi Token' is destroyed, inflict 300 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points.

**T5 - ****Interfere and Defend! – Trap**: You can only activate this card when you have more monsters with [Kyonshi] in its name than your opponent's number of monsters. During the turn that this card was activated, when your opponent conduct battle phase, he or she must attack with all monsters. You decide the targets that your opponent's monsters attack.


	8. 5A: The Mysterious Challenger

**Author's Note: **I'm not sure I like this chapter. It doesn't feel right to me but I felt it's important to introduce this character because he will be important. Also, this is probably the shortest chapter.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yugioh and credit goes to GL999 for subs of GX episode 5.

**

* * *

Episode 5: The Mysterious Challenger**

It was another peaceful day at the island of South Duel Academy. Students were attending their classes, taking notes or sleeping through. A certain maroon-haired girl made sure that she would wake up in time for her classes…..by buying ten alarm clocks.

The narrator blinked at one of the clocks, "Oh look! A Yami Kuriboh alarm clock! ….could it be a gift from Kurai?" He held his thumb up and snickered and suddenly he was splattered with red paint.

The same girl had accidentally spilt red paint all over, "Opps…" She accidentally tripped over the bucket while holding a large paintbrush over the wall of her dorm hut since her dorm was previously marred with graffiti. The Osiris Red staff decided to replace the marked woods of the hut with new woods, of course. They didn't bother painting and left the work to the person who lived in it.

The red-haired guy, Tsubaki, came to check up the noise while holding a large paintbrush mop, "Aw man, you spilled paint again? Are you some kinda klutz or something?"

"Not most of the time!" The girl named Izumi countered, "I must have got it from my sister. She's more klutzy than me."

"And yet, she mastered dueling in only one mouth." Tsubaki pointed out.

Izumi frowned with fuming eyes, "Oh shut up and help me finish painting!"

"At least be grateful that I'm helping you!" Tsubaki complained as he splattered the brush on the wall, "…Why am I helping you?"

"Because you were being such a gentleman and said that you're going to help me?" Izumi repeated his line.

Tsubaki laughed sarcastically, "Har. Har. Har. I only meant to beat up those people who did this to your dorm!"

"Oh sure, beat up the entire class until they're bloody pulps and then get me kicked out. Like that's going to help me." Izumi replied back in the same tone as him with doubtful eyes.

"Well it beat doing this!" Tsubaki retorted as he swung his mop and accidentally tripped over the other paint bucket, "…Uh oh…."

Izumi closed her eyes as she heard a numerous crashes and then a huge splash. She slowly opened her left eye and sweat-dropped, "Tsubaki, you're alright?"

"Well depends. I got a bucket full of red paint stuck in my head. I have red paint splattered all over my clothes and soaking wet too. And I also have smelly fishes swimming through my pants. And do I forget to mention that I'm feeling peachy?" Tsubaki spat out mixed paint and sea water since the bucket fell on his head, causing him to trip over the gates and fell into the water.

Izumi blinked and laughed hysterically.

Tsubaki frowned, "What's so funny?"

Izumi commented, "Now who's a klutz?"

"Oh whatever," Tsubaki pouted as he climbed back up, "And what's that cold-hearted stiff doing here?" Suddenly he was slammed back into the ocean by a thrown paint bucket.

The cold hearted Osiris Red student's forehead vein twitched as he was holding a small paintbrush.

Izumi sweat-dropped and explained to Tsubaki, "Well I asked him."

"Sureeeeeeee! He can't refuse a girl! That's why!" Tsubaki spat out the fish and climbed back in again.

Izumi just shrugged him off, "Oh you're just being rubbish."

Kurai painted the finishing touch, "I'm done."

Both Tsubaki and Izumi spoke at the same time, "Huh?" They both went to take a look.

Suddenly thunder was heard and lightning struck in the black background behind Izumi and Tsubaki, both of them turned pale white out of shock.

The reason of their shock was an amazing masterpiece that showed that Kurai knew his art really well but that's not why they were shocked.

Izumi had a giant droplet on the back of her head, "It's a giant Yami Kuriboh rampaging on New York City."

Tsubaki had even bigger droplet, "Is that me in its claw?"

"…yeah…You were supposed to be eaten." Kurai commented in bored tone.

Tsubaki's vein twitched as he clenched his fist, "Care to repeat that again?"

"Where am I?" Izumi asked out of curiosity.

Kurai replied coldly, "In Yami Kuriboh's stomach already."

Izumi turned white as ghost as the ominous winds blew by.

"What?" Kurai asked annoyingly because he could have done something better instead of wasting his time painting.

Tsubaki complained, "If I have dueled better at the dueling exam, I could have been in Ra Yellow instead of here."

"And be the same dorm as that creepy guy? I find it hard to believe that he's one of the best second year Ra Yellow with that creepy personality like his," Izumi commented, "and beside Osiris Red is not that bad and I'm glad I'm here with you guys. Plus we have a unique structure beside a mansion and a castle. A tons of huts floating over the ocean!"

"Which I kept falling in because of the certain cold hearted stiff." Tsubaki pointed out while frowning at Kurai.

Few seconds later, there was a loud POW and Tsubaki was sent flying and falling into the ocean again.

Izumi sweat-dropped as Kurai unclenched his used fist, "…that was mean…"

Suddenly they heard a strange alert from Professor Tyrell on the intercom, "Any students remaining in the Osiris Red Dorms, please evacuate the area. Please evacuate…Ah damnit, I'm too late! Oh well, it's not like any of you are stupid enough to stay here at this time anyway." He laughed proudly.

Izumi blinked in confusion at this strange announcement, "Huh? Yuki, what is Professor Tyrell talking about?" Yuki was staring at something and not paying attention to her, "Yuki?" She looked toward him and her eyes turned wide as dinner plates.

Tsubaki climbed back up again, "Damn you, you cold-hearted stiff bastard!" He noticed Izumi was in shock, "Huh, what's wrong?" He looked at Izumi's direction and his eyes turned wide as dinner plates too.

Facing them was a gigantic tidal wave coming toward their dorms.

Izumi shrieked, "A tidal wave?"

Tsubaki screamed, "Not more fishes!"

Kurai just silently cussed to himself, "Shit."

The gigantic wave piled upon the dorm with a great splash.

Tsubaki and Izumi screamed with white blank panicked eyes and Kurai just sweat-dropped as they were swallowed away by the wave.

* * *

Meanwhile at the Ra Yellow dorms, there was a loud high-pitched blood curling scream echoing throughout the mansion. All the Ra Yellow students stopped doing their daily activities as they pondered where the scream came from and who it belonged to. Fortunately, they got their answer soon as suddenly, Domon, the notorious Chinese zombie duelist, was running and screaming down the hallway in extreme fear. The girls screamed in shock as Domon wasn't wearing his pants but only his skull boxers.

Rad Cielo, a 1st year Ra Yellow duelist, blinked in surprise as he watched Domon fleeing for his life. He laughed, "Wow, I wonder what scare him so much?" He walked back to his room.

Soon after, Professor Morgan came stomping out of the Ra Yellow teacher's office holding a butcher knife in her hand, "Domon Yaku! Get back here and accept your punishment!"

Schmitt came running after her, "Please Miss Morgan! You need to calm down and put that butcher knife down!"

Morgan scoffed, "Hmph, if I don't scare him enough, he'll just come back to the abandoned dorms." She pointed her butcher knife at curious Ra Yellow students nearby, "You heard me? Abandoned Dorms are off-limit!"

Schmitt sighed, "I appreciate it that you took the duty to enforce discipline but Domon is under my jurisdiction."

"And what good have that done?" Morgan criticized.

Schmitt sighed annoyingly as he rubbed his forehead, "When I retire, I'm going to work in a small orphanage."

"Hey, Carol! Schmitt!" Tyrell ran up to them and he quickly noticed the butcher knife in Morgan's hand, "Oh my god! Did you actually do it? You cut a man's most prized possession?"

Morgan corrected, "It's Miss or Professor Morgan. And no, I do not." She twirled the butcher knife with her hand, "This is just prop to scare Domon into not causing havoc anymore." She accidently dropped the item, letting the knife pierced the floor.

There was a long uncomfortable silence between the teachers.

"Huh," Morgan assumed, "I thought I grabbed the fake one."

"How can you say it so casually?" Tyrell panicked, "You were this close to actually cut someone's treasured jewels!"

"I may have surgical experiences," said Schmitt, "but I have no desire to do that sort of surgery anytime soon."

"It did not happen! So it's fine. Anyway," Morgan narrowed her eyes toward Tyrell, "You didn't make the tidal wave announcement till the last minute, didn't you?"

Tyrell sweat-dropped even more, "Er…" He laughed nervously, "Oh come on, am I that stupid?" Morgan was about to answer, "Do not answer that!

Morgan lectured, "Professor Tyrell, it is important to make a tidal wave announcement or otherwise students might get washed away and we'll have to bring in the lifeguards to find them."

Tyrell waved his hand to calm her down, "Hey, don't worry, even if I missed making the announcement, I'm sure there's no one at the dorms at this time of the year."

* * *

Inside the Duel Academy central building within the large staff room, a small Professor, Rebecca, just walked in, "Hey, Fish guy!"

A female staff assistant, sitting behind a secretary's desk, looked up from her paper works to a small teenager, "Mr. Kahil is not here at the moment."

"What?" Rebecca narrowed her eyes, "Don't tell me…"

The female staff sweat-dropped, "He said it's a nice day to go fishing." She sweat-dropped even more as she watched Rebecca glowing in red demonic aura.

Rebecca growled as she gritted her teeth and raised her shaking clenched fist. She snapped, "That lazy idiot! I'm going to beat the crap out of him when I find him!"

* * *

On the opposite side of the island across from the Osiris Red dorms, the same fisherman, that Rebecca just threatened, suddenly sneezed, "Achoo! Hmm…is someone talking about me? I wonder if it's cute Rebecca?" He hummed happily as he was fishing off on top of the rocks lying on an isolated beach, "Fishing is fun. Dueling is fun. Making Rebecca crazy is fun…" Instantly, the fishing rod was pulled, "Oh? I got something! Wait…that never happened before…" He grinned, "I guess all my years of patience finally paid off!" He reeled in and a red-haired head popped out of the water with a hook attached to his jacket. The fisherman blinked and confusion and gaped, "I caught a merman!"

Tsubaki lifted his head out of the water, "I'm not a merman!" He coughed out water.

Izumi gasped for air as she suddenly had her head out of water, "We made it. We're alive!" She was starry eyed.

Kurai just swam to shore with a bored expression.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Tsubaki, what are you doing?" Tsubaki was struggling with the hook.

"Trying to be a fish," Tsubaki glared, "I got a hook on my jacket! What does it look like we're doing?"

The fisherman smiled, "Oh look, more fish people!"

Tsubaki snapped, "We're not fish people! We're merman! Wait, no…Er….you know what I mean!"

Kurai stood up once he reached shore, "….Annoying."

Few minutes later, the Osiris Red students were out of the ocean and on dry lands.

Izumi twisted her outer uniform to drench the water out, "I knew that I want to surf one day but not like this!"

"Ouch!" Tsubaki winced as he grabbed a small spiky object off his back, "Damn sea urchin." He grabbed a fish out of his pant, "Damn fishes!" He tossed it back to the ocean.

"You're Osiris Red students," The fisherman noticed their uniforms, "Ah, it's must be the time of the year again."

"The time of the year?" Izumi asked, ignoring Tsubaki grabbing more fishes from his clothes.

"During the late season, there's always an annual high tide and a huge tidal wave occurred during the lower parts of the island." The fisherman explained.

"Oh that explains why the construction materials are very strong," Izumi pointed out.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "If there's a yearly tidal wave, why bother building the dorms on top of the ocean if it's going to be this dangerous?"

Fisherman looked offended, "I thought it's very cool that there's a dorm on top of the ocean."

Tsubaki sweat-dropped even more, "Is the duel academy designer trying to go extreme or something? It's insanity!"

Izumi laughed nervously as she tried to calm her friend down, "Let's not worry about that, Tsubaki, at least we're alright!" She looked back at the fisherman, "Um, so do you often come here?"

"Naturally." The fisherman smiled, "It's the best fishing spot even though I never got a fish for years but patience will reward me someday.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Hey old man, why is it the best fishing spot if you never caught a fish?"

The fisherman exclaimed, "Because I said so, that's why!" He laughed manically.

Both of them sweat-dropped.

"I'm Izumi. That guy over there is Tsubaki. And he's Yuki!" Izumi introduced them.

The fisherman smiled, "You may call me a mysterious wicked cool awesome best of the world fisherman!"

Izumi and Tsubaki sweat-dropped and shared the same thoughts, _'Is this guy crazy?'_

The fisherman smirked, "You know, I think this is really the best fishing spot because I should thank the sea god for allowing me to meet such a beautiful girl."

Izumi blushed, "Why thank you for the compliment." She giggled as she moved her body shyly.

Tsubaki's left eye twitched out of disgust, "Um okay…you're a weird pervert. Yuki, let's get outta here!"

Kurai was already walking back.

"Hey, wait for me!" Tsubaki followed him.

"Sorry about that," Izumi bowed, "I hope we meet again, Fisherman-san!" She quickly went after her friends, "Hey, wait up, you guys!"

The fisherman smiled as he flicked his fishing rod toward the ocean, "Interesting trio. I sense great things will happen around them. And slowly, the destiny weaves the path for the new duelists into ancient battle."

Tsubaki complained as he walked with his arms behind his head, "That was really annoying! Someone should have warned us about that crazy tidal wave."

Izumi laughed nervously, "Well, at least we're alright now, right?"

"We could have got standard in some unknown island!" Tsubaki scowled.

"Well technically, we are standard in an island." Izumi laughed.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "That was a bad joke, Izumi. Hey, Yuki!"

Kurai didn't answer as he was in deep thought, _'That guy…there's something strange about him…'_

Tsubaki shrugged, "I guess Yuki's not listening." He sighed as he looked at Izumi, "Maybe you're right. We should be grateful that we're alright. At least, we didn't drown."

Izumi nodded, "That's true. Good thing, we didn't end up like that dead guy over there." She laughed as she pointed to a soaking wet human body dressed in black desert robe nearby on the beach.

Tsubaki laughed along, "Ha! Ha! You're right! Otherwise we'll be dead like that guy!"

Both of them finally registered what they saw and stood there in long uncomfortable silence.

Kurai stopped walking as he too stared at the body on the beach, "Ah…a dead body."

Tsubaki and Izumi screamed like hell, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Tsubaki panicked, "Oh my god! There's a dead body! A dead human!"

Izumi shook her head frantically, "I didn't mean to kill him! I'm so sorry!"

Tsubaki stopped panicking, "What do you mean you didn't mean to kill him?"

Izumi cried, "Because you said we didn't drown and I said good thing, we didn't end up like him! I cursed him! I'm a murderer!"

Tsubaki pointed out, "Hold on just a minute! That body could have been there for awhile or who knows how long it was there! There's no way that he would have died right after you said that! "

Izumi stopped crying right away, "Ah, you have a point there."

Tsubaki fell down.

Izumi noticed Kurai crouching near the body, "Yuki, what are you doing?"

Kurai rolled his eyes, "Making sure he's dead." He looked back toward the black robed man. He was dark-skinned like the Fisherman they just met and he was wearing a black turban. Kurai narrowed his eyes as he recognized the clothes in the school textbook, _'An Egyptain?' _He then noticed black markings hidden slightly under his turban. Out of curiosity, he decided to pull off his turban just to see black tattoos on his bald forehead. As soon as he did it, Kurai's head suddenly hurt as the millennium symbol flashed in his mind. He winced as he held his head, _'What the…what the hell was that?'_

Izumi walked up to Kurai, "Yuki, you okay?"

Tsubaki followed, "Hey, is he dead?"

Kurai scowled, "I haven't check yet." He grabbed the man's wrist and checked for his pulse. He stood up, "He's still alive." He walked past them, "But it's faint."

"Really?" Izumi sighed in relief, "That's good," she realized, "Wait…it's faint?"

Tsubaki blinked as he looked back at Kurai, "Why are you behind us?"

Kurai crossed his arms, "I'm not giving him CPR."

Both Izumi and Tsubaki just stood there in silence again while the ominous winds blew past by.

Kurai looked away, "I ain't doing it."

Tsubaki blushed while panicking, "CPR!"

Izumi blushed as she glanced at the unconscious man, _'CPR….if we don't give him CPR, he might not live…but it's my first kiss…but it's only CPR…but it's my first kiss!'_ She quickly turned her head to Tsubaki, "Tsubaki! I'm going to press his chest and you need to give him CPR!"

Tsubaki's eyes widened in shock, "What? Oh hell no, I'm locking lips with a guy! You do it!"

"A first kiss is important to a girl!" Izumi countered, "You're a guy! You should kiss plenty of times before!"

Tsubaki retorted, "Hey! Don't compare me to an average hormone-raged American!"

Suddenly, the wet man's blue eyes snapped open as he quickly sat up.

Tsubaki and Izumi screamed as they hugged each other out of fear, "AHHHHHHHHH!"

Kurai sighed annoyingly, _'Note to myself, never ever hang out with them again. You're bound for something crazy if you stay with these idiots.'_

The black-robed man glanced around as he was wondering where he was right now. He then looked at three duelists with an eerie gaze, "Where am I"

"Um…" Izumi replied nervously, "You're at the South Duel Academy, sir…"

"I see." The black-robed stranger stood up, "I thank you for your guidance." He walked away. The teenagers couldn't help but watch him walked away because there was an air of mystery around that stranger.

Izumi blinked, "Who was he?"

Tsubaki shrugged, "How am I supposed to know? He just got up and walked off."

Kurai just stared at the retreating figure before he disappeared from his sight. He narrowed his eyes as he trying to figure out the strange symbol that appeared in his mind awhile ago.

"Hey, Yuki," Izumi interrupted Kurai's thought, "Do you know him?"

Kurai looked at Izumi as she was a complete idiot.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Alright, I guess that's a no." She noticed that Tsubaki was thinking very hard, "What's wrong, Tsubaki?"

"I couldn't help but think that guy looked so familiar." Tsubaki answered.

"He does? How so?" Izumi asked.

"I don't know. I know I saw him somewhere!" Tsubaki smacked his head, hoping his memory would come back to him.

"That's because he appeared on the newspaper many times." A calm voice answered.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Izumi jumped in fright as a familiar Obelisk Blue student was behind her.

"Jeeze!" Tsubaki had his hand over his chest, trying to calm his panicking heart, "Where the hell did you come from?"

Alexander smiled, "I was sent from the Academy staff to pick up someone and then I saw you."

Izumi groaned, "Please don't do that again, Alex…" Then she remembered what Alexander said, "Wait, you say he appeared on the newspapers many times?"

Kurai glanced at Alexander with slight interest as he wanted to know more about the mysterious stranger.

Alexander answered, "He's actually a famous duelist."

"Really? How come we never notice him?" Tsubaki asked.

Alex explained, "He never participated in any official tournaments and he just recently appeared couple of months ago. All over the world, he challenged strong duelists and won. They never knew his real name or his origin. Thus he came to be known as…"

"Known as?" Izumi pleaded him on.

Alexander closed his eyes, "Shadow."

"So that's why he looked so familiar," Tsubaki exclaimed, "He defeated lot of Pro League duelists of various rankings. No one knows why he's doing it or what his goal is." His eyes widened, "And that guy is here on our island?"

Izumi asked, "If he's that famous, why would he be here at the Duel Academy?"

Tsubaki shrugged, "I don't know, we don't have a Pro League duelist here, do we?"

Alexander smiled, "Actually, we do."

Tsubaki blinked in surprise, "We do?"

Alexander chuckled, "Just kidding."

Tsubaki groaned, "Oh, come on!"

Alexander smirked, "Maybe, I'm not kidding."

Tsubaki twitched, "Which is it? True or not true?"

Alexander smiled, "I'm not telling."

"Boys! Boys! We're drifting away from the subject here," Izumi interfered, "What about Shadow?"

"Oh yeah, huh?" Tsubaki rubbed his chin, "If Shadow's here, he might be targeting strong duelist."

Izumi rolled her eyes, "Well, that's certainly obvious but the bigger question is how many strong duelists are here on this island?"

Alexander chuckled, "A lot?"

Kurai sighed as he headed back to the dorm.

"Eh, Yuki, where are you going?" Izumi called.

Alexander assumed, "I bet he's thinking that Shadow has nothing to do with him, so he doesn't give a care and just want to go back to the dorm, leaving us fools behind."

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Somehow…that sound about right."

Suddenly, the millennium symbol flashed inside Kurai's head, forcing him to stop. The cold duelist groaned as he held his head. The symbol was giving him an overbearing headache. He gritted his teeth, _'What the hell was that? ...Why am I seeing the eye of Anubis?'_

* * *

At Duel Academia, below the abandoned Obelisk Blue dorms.

Titan held up his Millennium Puzzle that gave a bright golden flash, causing the Osiris Red students to cover their eyes. Titan chuckled evilly, "Begin to vanish. Your body will gradually disappear in accordance to your Life Points."

Hayato yelled, "Judai!"

Sho's eyes widened in horror, "Aniki!"

Judai looked down in surprise as parts of his body vanished, "My body…"

Suddenly, a black fog spread throughout the dueling field.

Titan smirked, "Kid, didn't I tell you? That this Game of Darkness has already begun?"

Judai gritted his teeth, "Is this really a Game of Darkness?"

Titan continued, "The enshrouding black fog…the heavy, black fog is engulfing you all." He smirked, "Hard to breath now, isn't it?"

Sho winced as he held his neck in attempt to breath.

Hayato narrowed his eyes, "What's this choking us up?" He groaned as he too was being suffocated.

Titan answered, "It's the pressure of the Game of Darkness. Your legs will no longer move, so no one will be able to run away from this game."

Sho tried to move, "He's right! I can't budge my legs!"

Titan laughed evilly, "Squirm…suffer…but the moment you'll find yourselves longing for the suffering is approaching. For what awaits the loser of a Game of Darkness is eternal darkness."

"No!" Judai stepped forward, "I don't believe that. I've heard that to play a Game of Darkness, you need to have a Millennium Item! Do you have one?"

Titan pulled up his Millennium Puzzle up again, "Behold. This is the legendary item, the Millennium Puzzle. It proves this is the Game of Darkness." His Millennium Puzzle glowed again.

"What?" Judai narrowed his eyes.

**

* * *

PART A END**

**Author's Note 2: **If anyone can guess who Shadow is or the Fisherman Kahil is, I'll give you a cookie lol.


	9. 5B: The Mysterious Challenger

**Author's Note: **I hope this duel chapter gives you more clue about Shadow and the Principal lol. Enjoy! Also, this happened during GX Episode 6 since episode 5 and 6 (Duel with Titan) were two-parters that occurred in the same day.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh or anything associated with it. Credit goes to GLL99 for subs of GX episode 6.

**

* * *

EPISODE 5 PART B**

Kurai appeared on the screen with his duel disk activated and his deadly E-Merc Bolt Assassin was right behind him. An official logo was printed on the bottom right corner.

"Me again?" Kurai asked.

"What's with the rude tone?" The narrator complained.

"Oh nothing except the fact that you're wasting your time with this because of your pathetic writer's block. Such moron." Kurai commented rudely.

The narrator gasped.

"…What?" Kurai asked.

"You spoke such a long sentence! What a miracle!" The narrator exclaimed.

Kurai twitched.

* * *

"Izumi, wait up!" Tsubaki panted as he chased Izumi who was running toward the Duel Academy, "Where the hell are you going?"

"I'm going to stop Shady or whatever his name is! I'm going to tell the principal!" Izumi exclaimed with concern.

"That's a wise course of action." Alexander followed them soon after.

"But…" Tsubaki whined.

Alexander smiled as he read his mind, "Do you even know what the principal look like?"

"Of course I knew what he…." A giant droplet formed on Izumi's head as she finally realized, "….Actually, I have no clue at all." She laughed nervously.

Tsubaki fell down. He got up and yelled, "Then why the hell are you running for?"

Izumi laughed nervously, "It was impulse!"

"Baka." Kurai commented and suddenly the Millennium Symbol flashed in his mind again. He groaned slightly as he held his head, _'Not again…!'_

* * *

Inside the duel Academy, Shadow was taking the elevator elevating to one of the top floors. There was a soft ding as the lift finally stopped and the steel doors slid open. The dark duelist stepped forward and accidentally crashed into someone.

"Ouch!" That someone was Hyun-Ki who still wore his sunglasses, "Um….someone is there, right? Sorry about that."

Shadow stared at Hyun-ki with an ominous gaze. He then looked away and apologized, "It is I that should apologize. The accident was due mostly to my fault."

Hyun-Ki replied, "Nah, it was my fault! I couldn't see you." He laughed it off.

Shadow didn't laugh but spoke in a dark tone, "You destiny is near but hidden. I would unmask your true path with a duel but I cannot because you are hidden behind your damaged eyes." He walked past Hyun-Ki.

Hyun-Ki just stood there as he absorbed his weird cryptic message, _'What was that? That guy…is weird…I couldn't feel anything …it's like,'_ A sweat precipitated around his face, _'He's not human!'_

Shadow walked down the hallway filled with duel monsters statues. He was about to enter another elevator but someone was blocking his way, a blonde girl. He narrowed his sky blue eyes, "Will you let me through?"

"Of course not! I know who you are, Shadow! The security warned us right away when they saw you!" Rebecca ordered with a duel disk attached to her arm, "I don't know why you're here on this Duel Academy but I suggest you get off the island. If you want a duel, then, you have to go through me first!"

Shadow closed his eyes, "I have no time to deal with you."

"No time?" Rebecca yelled angrily, "I'll have you know that I'm American Champion of Duel Monsters!"

"Former American Champion," Shadow countered, "You played a minor role in the ancient battle five years ago."

"Five years ago?" Rebecca asked, "Ancient battle?" She silently thought to herself, _'What does he mean by that? …Wait, is he talking about the Pharaoh's battle?…Is he talking about darling?'_

"I wish to meet the Principal." Shadow demanded.

Rebecca narrowed her eyes, "Like I said, you have to go through me!"

"Hello, cute little Rebecca!" A male voiced yelled and both duelists looked toward the Fisherman who was fishing earlier.

Rebecca fell down but quickly got up, "Fish guy?"

The Fisherman walked past by Shadow and pulled Rebecca's face cheeks, "How's my cute little Rebecca doing? You got cuter than yesterday! Why I would hug and cuddle you all day."

Rebecca twitched and slapped him, "Pervert!" Her slap sent him flying.

The fisherman stood up with a large hand print on his cheek, "Abusive as usual, Rebecca."

Shadow stood there with unamused look. The Fisherman noticed his presence, "Oh…it's you…long time no see….although I thought you moved on already five years ago…so what name do you go by now?"

The mysterious man replied, "Shadow. I abandoned my other name in accordance to the Pharaoh's last journey."

Rebecca narrowed her eyes, _'The Pharaoh! So he is connected to my Darling…' _She noticed Shadow's dark skin and face, _'From the look of him, he's Egyptain… Is he one of those Tombkeepers?' _She turned her head toward the Fisherman, "Principal, do you know this man?"

The Fisherman looked at Rebecca, "Don't you have classes to teach?" He smirked, "Unless you would like to stay with me and we can have fun together if you know what I mean!"

Rebecca stared at him with complete disgust, "No way. I'm leaving!" She stormed off, "Hmph!" She glared back at him, _'The Fish guy is definitely hiding something…I knew he's Egyptain too but I didn't think he might have connection to the Tombkeepers…heh…stupid fish guy, even if you don't tell me, I'm going to find out myself what's going on.' _She left through the opposite elevator.

Shadow sensed Rebecca's presence drifting further away from his location. He looked at the Fisherman/Principal of Duel Academy, "Your presence and attitude is so much different from what I knew, Kar…"

"That's not my name, Shadow," The Fisherman interrupted, "I'm Principal Kamil. The name and the person you're familiar with was dead way long time ago. Even though I shared his heritage and I have his memories, I'm not the same person. So what bring you back from the dead, Shadow?"

Shadow answered, "The Pharaoh is awake."

The principal groaned, "Are you serious? Didn't he already have some fun five years ago with the Duel King? Plus that same Duel King is the one who sent him back to the afterlife. So why would he be awake?"

Shadow closed his eyes, "The Pharaoh may have sense something…so he rose from his slumber and lend his power to a new host."

Kamil raised his closed eye in suspicion, "A new host? You mean he's living inside another boy?"

"No, that only work with the Duel King because that boy share the same body and blood as the Pharaoh," Shadow explained, "In this case, he only gave a bit of his power to the new boy although I don't know the Pharaoh's true purpose."

Kamil looked at a nearby Duel Monster statue, "So that's why you challenge duelists left and right all over the world. You were looking for the boy chosen by the Pharaoh, huh? And since you're here…"

Shadow nodded once, "The boy I sought may be here on this island."

"So you're looking for that boy, huh? Which could be any strong duelist, is that you're saying?" The Fisherman asked seriously.

Shadow slowly nodded his head.

The Fisherman frowned seriously and then put on a dopey smile, "Well, you're in luck!"

Shadow just stood there with an emotionless face.

The Fisherman smirked as he held three fingers up, "I just got three catches today, two averages and one huge one!"

"Where can I find this...so-called huge one?" Shadow asked.

* * *

Back at the Osiris Red dorm area, Izumi was concerned, "Who knows what could happened to the Principal?...He could be slaughtered, his arms and legs chopped off into tiny pieces and being fed into a monster that soon mutated into a killer zombie!"

Tsubaki looked at Izumi strangely, "You have watched way too many American Horror movies."

"Heh, that's the only thing shown in Hollywood after all." Alexander commented.

Tsubaki remarked, "Plus, what make you think the Principal could be targeted by Shadow anyway?"

Izumi replied, "Well, being a principal of the Duel Academy means you're a strong duelist, right? So wouldn't Shadow target him?"

Alexander chuckled, "You don't need to be a very strong duelist to become a Principal plus anyone who wants to work here as a teacher requires noteworthy dueling skills. So all of them can be strong but not necessarily the strongest."

"By the way, this has been bothering me, why are you hanging out with us?" Tsubaki asked Alexander suspiciously.

Alexander chuckled, "I'm not allowed to hang out with you?"

"Well it's just weird for an Obelisk Blue to hang out with us." Tsubaki pointed out.

"Who cares?" Izumi intervened, "Even though we're different grades, all of us are still duelists!"

"Well said, Izumi." Alexander smiled.

"Hey Yuki, where are you going?" Tsubaki noticed that Kurai was leaving.

"Anywhere beside here." Kurai left.

"Yuki," Izumi sighed, "I wish he could have been friendlier."

Kurai was walking to the beach, pondering to himself. He was thinking about why is he hanging out with the idiots. What was he doing here, he was asking himself. He took out his deck and took out a hidden wallet-sized photo, revealing two young boys, one with brown hair and the other with blue hair, "Knowing him, he's probably way ahead of me." He narrowed his eyes and glared at the photo with hatred. Then he felt a presence as the Millennium eye flashed inside his mind. He looked up toward the rocky cliff and saw Shadow staring down at him, "That guy."

* * *

"Yuki hates me. Yuki hates me not. Yuki hates me. Yuki hates me not." A blonde Obelisk Blue girl was pulling off the petals one by one off a native flower. Lisa was sitting on a small flower garden nearby the cliffs. Although she was supposed to be surrounded by flowers, half of them were torn and lost their petals. She then pulled the last petal, "Yuki hates me," she stared at the petal-less flower. She dropped her hand in sorrow, letting the flower slid off her grip, "Yuki still hates me!" She wailed, "Why would he still hates me? I was trying to get rid of that awful poor city-born witch!" She suddenly glared intensely, causing the surviving flowers to wilt in fear, "That horrible witch. How dare she cast some kind forbidden spell that trapped those two handsome men into her grasp. As the president of hunky, attractive, noble, dangerous, so magnificent, elegant aka H.A.N..M.E. Duelists Club, it is my duty to stop her!" Her attitude took a 180 degree change, "But Yuki is still mad at me!" She cried.

"Miss Lisa!" Another Obelisk Blue girl with bob hair-cut, Vanessa, was running through the now-dead garden to her captain.

Lisa looked back at Vanessa, "Oh Vanessa, do tell me any uplifting news for I am down with heartbreak."

Vanessa took out a thick leather-bound notebook out of nowhere, "There's two big news. First, Domon Yaku."

Lisa shuddered, "Argh! Domon? You mean that nasty awful skinny trash who always come up with stupid pranks? It's a good thing he's not in Obelisk Blue or I will die."

"According to my sources, I heard he was defeated by Yuki."

Lisa brightened, "Really? I knew that man has potential! It's such shame that he's in Osiris Red with that witch. What's the last big new?"

"Someone saw Shadow here at Duel Academy!"

"Shadow? That name sound awfully familiar…is he that awful notorious villain that defeated many Pro League duelists?"

"The very one, Miss Lisa."

Lisa sighed, "It's big news alright but that's not really something that matters to me unless he target one of our hot duelists."

Vanessa blinked, "Like if Shadow is targeting Yuki?"

Lisa nodded, "Right! That's a good example!"

Vanessa blinked, "Actually…it's not an example…" She pointed to a nearby cliff.

"Eh?" Lisa suddenly turned her head back and looked up to the cliff to see an Osiris Red facing a black-robed stranger, "Lord Yuki?"

* * *

Kurai reached the top of the cliff and saw Shadow staring at the ocean, "Found you."

Shadow turned around and faced Kurai, "Found me or destiny guided you?"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about but I don't have time for your crap." Kurai narrowed his cold eyes, "Something is happening to my mind and I know you're the cause of it, old man."

Shadow asked, "What make you think of such accusation?"

Kurai glared, "The marking in your forehead!"

"The marking in my forehead?" Shadow slowly lifted off his black turban, revealing black paintings above his eyebrows, "What does it do to you?"

Kurai growled, "Don't act coy! Ever since I saw those, I kept seeing the Eye of Anubis inside my head!"

Shadow narrowed his blue eyes, "You saw the Millennium Symbol? I see…are you the one chosen by fate?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kurai wanted answers and he wanted now.

"If you beseech answers," Shadow replied as he took out a golden duel disk, "You must earn it."

"So be it." Kurai took out his own duel disk and inserted his deck.

Shadow put the turban back around his forehead as his eyes suddenly glowed golden. Thousands of Duel Monsters cards revolved around the mysterious duelist.

Kurai couldn't believe what he just saw, "Is this some kind of magic trick?"

Shadow closed his eyes, "There are thousands of Duel Monster spirits. By choosing the right ones, I can defeat any opponent no matter how strong they are." He opened his eyes as he stared at Kurai ominously, "I see it now." Forty cards out of thousands cards glowed golden, "These chosen spirits will defeat you." The glowing cards flew into Shadow's duel disk as the remaining cards disappeared, "If you are chosen by the King, then you can defy fate."

"Chosen by the King?" Kurai asked, "What does that have to do with me?"

Shadow just answered, "Defeat me and fate if you want to know so badly."

Kurai scowled, "Fine!"

"Duel!" Both of them yelled at the same time while the scoreboards of their Life Points were on display.

Shadow: 4000. Kurai: 4000.

"I'll go first." Shadow drew his card and placed a card, "I play Learning Elf [**M1(3/1400/1500)**] in defense." A female elf jumped into the field. She had pointed elf ears with blonde hair in the same style as the Elven Swordsman. She wore a lime-green skirt with a forest green cloak. She held a red book in her arms. She crouched on her knees in defense, "I also put one card face-down." A M/T card appeared on the field.

"Draw!" Kurai drew his card and looked at his hand. He picked one card, "I summon E-Merc Tempest Lady [**M2(3/1000/1000)**] in attack position!" Gray wings erupted from the ground as the winged woman in blue clad armor came to the Field, "I play a Magic Card, Tornado Duster!" [**S1**] The card showed a picture of a wind with gray feathers swirling along with duel monsters cards. The Tempest Lady soared to the sky and flapped her gray wings frantically. She created a large tornado that span across the opponent's M/T field, destroying everything in its path. Shadow's card revealed itself as a Trap card with a picture of an elf sealed inside a transparent orb.

"You have destroyed my trap card, Mirror Barrier [**T1**]." Shadow pointed out as he discarded the card into the Duel Disk.

Kurai continued his turn as he grabbed two cards from his hand, "Next, I play Polymerization [**S2**] to fuse my E-Merc Flame Berserker with E-Merc Tempest Lady to fusion summon E-Merc Blazing Windman!" [**M3(6/2100/1200)**] The winged woman and the flaming warrior disappeared into the pieces that were absorbed into the swirling circle in the sky. Suddenly pillars of wind and fire struck the Field and merged together, creating a blue orange winged warrior with a hawk firearm, "Blazing Windman, destroy his pathetic elf with Blazing Hawk!" The winged warrior took flight and aimed its hawk-like cannon at the elf. The hawk opened its beak and fired a purple flaming hawk that charged toward the elf. The elf shrieked as she was melted by the flame, "Due to my E-Merc's effect, you take damage equals to the defense of your monster!" The winged warrior fired another shot at Shadow, burning his Life Points away.

Shadow: 4000 – 1500 = 2500. Kurai: 4000.

"But because you sent my Learning Elf to the grave, I get to draw one card." Shadow drew.

"I end my turn." Kurai replied.

Lisa and Vanessa were hiding behind a large rock on the top of the cliff, watching their duel. Lisa whispered, "Oh, brilliant move, Lord Yuki! You can defeat this awful villain!"

Vanessa commented, "But this doesn't seem like Shadow's strength, considering he fought many Pro duelists."

Shadow drew his card, making the total six. He picked one card and placed it down horizontally, "I place one monster face-down." A card materialized on the Monsters Field, "I'm finished."

Kurai drew his card, _'Only one monster face-down? This is the duelist who beat many pros?'_ He added the card to his hand, "Blazing Windman, destroy his face-down card!" The winged warrior charged his hawk arm and aimed against the face-down card. He fired the purple hawk and became a pillar the burned the card however, the card was still there, _'I knew it. It's a monster with an effect.'_

Shadow explained, "You attacked my Retrained Elven Swordsman," [**M4(4/1400/1200)**] The elfish warrior appeared on the field in defense. He had his elfish ear and his straight yellow hair. He had paint markings on his face with green helmet with silver horns. He was dressed in forest green battle shoulder pads and chest plate over his wooden brown shirt. He also wore beige pants and orange boots, "Due to its effect, it cannot be destroyed by a monster with an ATK of 1900 or higher and your monster has 2100 ATK."

Kurai gritted his teeth as he didn't have any other monsters cards in his hand, "I end my turn."

Shadow drew, "Draw." He placed one card on the Duel Disk, "I play a magic card, Spirit Slayer, [**S3**] and equip it on my Retrained Elven Swordsman. I switch him into offensive." The elven warrior's iron sword was changed into a golden sword with a thin gap splitting the wide blade. At the top of hilt was a red circular gem. The elven warrior stood up and held his sword in a fighting pose. His initial attack strength increased from 1400 to 1900. Shadow picked another card, "I normal summon Thoroughbred Elf [**M5(4/1800/1500)**] in attack." A tall male muscular elf came out to the Field. Like all elves, he had pointed ears and long straight blond hair. He wore a fighter's robe of moss green color.

Kurai thought to himself, _'An Elf deck? Oh frigging hell, he's some fantasy freak.'_

"Elven Swordsman, attack Blazing Windman!" Shadow ordered and the elven warrior charged with his shining golden sword, "Due to the Spirit Slayer's effect, I decrease your monster's attack strength by 500!" Blazing Windman's ATK plummeted from 2100 to 1600, making him a prey for the Elven Swordsman. The Retrained Elven Swordsman swung his sword and sliced the Blazing warrior in half, the two halves shattered to thousand pieces.

Shadow: 2500. Kurai: 4000 – 300 = 3700.

Shadow shouted, "Thoroughbred Elf, attack him directly!" The fighter elf charged with a battle cry. He delivered a mean punch that nearly sent Kurai flying off the cliff. Kurai stood up as he groaned while his Life Points were dwindling.

Shadow: 2500. Kurai: 3700 – 1800 = 1900.

Shadow closed his eyes, "I end my turn."

Lisa whimpered, "Oh Lord Yuki!" She growled, "That bastard! How dare he make Lord Yuki lose half of his Life Points."

Vanessa sweat-dropped.

Kurai scowled and drew his card. He grabbed three cards, leaving only one card in his Hand, "I placed two face-down cards!" He puts two cards in the M/T slots and placed one card horizontally on the Duel Disk, "I placed one monster face-down and I ended my turn." Three cards appeared on his side of the Field.

"Draw!" Shadow drew his card and commented, "I thought this duel would be interesting," He closed his eyes, "But you have disappointed me."

"This duel is far from over, old man. Make your move because we don't have all century." Kurai retorted.

"I draw." Shadow drew his card and pondered about his face-down cards, '_It must be some cards that would help him destroy my monsters.'_ He took out two cards from his hand, "I summon Elven Ranger [**M6(4/1300/1400)**] in attack mode!" Suddenly, an elven warrior rose from the ground. Like others, he had sharp pointed ears and yellow long hair. He was dressed in wood green shirt over chained brown pants. He wore a brown shoulder pad that contained a pad that held his arrows. He wore brown protective gloves and his bow was made out of wood.

"Another pathetic elf?" Kurai insulted Shadow's monsters.

"These so-called pathetic creatures should defeat you." Shadow replied.

"Yukiiiiiii!" A loud girlish voice yelled Kurai's surname.

"That voice…" Lisa gasped, "It's the witch!" She was about to come out of her hiding spot but Vanessa quickly held her back.

Kurai cringed as his ear-drums suffered damages. He sighed, "Damnit."

"What were you doing, Yuki?" Izumi shouted while she was gasping because she ran all the way here.

Tsubaki finally caught up, "For a girl," He gasped, "She sure," he gasped even more, "ran very fast." He glanced around, "Where's Alex?"

"Right here." Alexander answered right behind Tsubaki, giving him the fright of his life.

Tsubaki looked back and faced Alex's typical smile, "…How come you're not tired?"

Suddenly Alex had a black aura surrounding him, "Would you really like to know?" He smiled.

Many sweat droplets appeared on Tsubaki's head out of fear. Tsubaki quickly looked away with a shadow covering his eyes, "Never mind."

"Yuki, why are you fighting Shadow? You know very well that he's dangerous!" Izumi demanded to know.

Kurai groaned in annoyance, "Stay out of this."

Alexander grabbed Izumi's shoulders before she yelled even more, "Don't worry, Yuki will be fine."

Shadow opened the Field slot of his duel disk and loaded his second card, "I played the Field Card, The Ancient Forest – Sacred Kingdom of Elves!" [**S4**] Immediately, the rocky cliff was replaced by trees that grew taller than skyscrapers and lush leaves that blocked the sun. The trees gained glowing flowers, giving lights to the dark atmosphere. There were stairs that spiraled around the trees and white hut structures occupying the branches. The ground was replaced by the flat platform of the giant tree branches.

Izumi gaped, "Woah." She was breath-taken by this amazing sight.

"Wow, this place is cool!" Tsubaki looked around in awe.

Alexander explained, "This is the home of the Elves. It's natural that their habitats would be beautiful."

"This Field card increases all my elves' ATK and DEF by 300. Not only that, this forest protects my elves from perishing in battles or being assaulted by spells," Shadow explained, "Now Elven Ranger, attack his facedown card!"

The ranger picked an arrow and aimed his bow toward the facedown monster. His ATK increased from 1300 to 1600. The ranger let go and the arrow struck the facedown card, revealing a metallic wolf made out of chrome with green metallic eye shield over its face.

"You destroyed Fiend Husky!" [**M7(3/800/1200)**] Kurai discarded Fiend Husky into his Duel Disk and took back two cards, "Due to its effect, I brought back my Polymerization and E-Merc Flame Beserker!"

"But that does not protect you from my monster's direct attacks." Shadow claimed.

Izumi pointed out, "But direct attack from his monster means…"

"He's dead." Tsubaki finished the sentence.

"Hmm, I don't think so." Alex knew what Kurai has in plan.

Kurai replied, "I knew that but I didn't say I'm done. I activate my trap card, Hired Mercenary!" [**T2**] The trap card revealed a swordsman protecting the cowering Greedy Goblin Merchant, "From my deck, I special summon E-Merc Stone Guarder!" [**M8(4/800/2000)**] A tall muscular bodybuilder came to the Field. He wore a helmet with horns and thick stone armor. He also possessed spiked shoulder pads and legs coverings. The warrior was entirely made out of stone and he wielded a giant stone shield with spikes on the edge that was half of his size. He crouched behind his stone shield in defense.

"Your monster's strong defense is no match for my elves' strength with the aid of the forest," Shadow pointed out as his Retrained Elven Swordsman with Spirit Slayer's ATK increased from 1900 to 2200 and Thoroughbred Elf's ATK increased from 1800 to 2100, "Your defeat is unavoidable."

"Your stupid monsters may not be destroyed by battles or magic but that doesn't mean I can't use my trap! I activate my second trap card, Rock Kamikaze!" [**T3**] His second trap card revealed a picture of E-Merc Stone Guarder with dynamites all tied around him, "By sacrificing E-Merc Stone Guarder, I can destroys all your monsters on the Field with defenses lower than Stone Guarder and all of your pathetic elves has lower than 2000!" The stone defender started glowing brightly and created a big explosion. Suddenly three spikes from Stone Guarder's stone shield pierced through Shadow's Elf Monsters and obliterated them.

Shadow closed his eyes as he braced the winds that came from the explosion, "Impressive, I end my battle phase," He slowly opened his eyes, "But I do not end my turn," He grabbed a card and played it, "I use my Magic Card, Tears of the Forest!" [**S5**] The magic card had an image of the thick forest in dark shadows with few lights flickering through, "Can't you hear it? Can you hear the forest mourn for the deceased?"

Kurai answered, "The only thing I can hear is your insanity cracking your head!"

Shadow closed his eyes out of disappointment, "This magic card allows me to revive my monsters that were destroyed this turn! I bring back Retrained Elven Swordsman, Thoroughbred Elf, and Elven Ranger from the Graveyard!" The three elves were summoned back to the field, "I'm done with my turn."

"Hey man, are you obsessed with Elves or something?" Tsubaki asked.

Shadow didn't reply back. After a few seconds of silence, he answered, "Elves or to be more exact, Duel Monster spirits can see the truth unlike humans who wish not to see the truth."

"Huh?" Tsubaki was confused, "the truth?"

"Humans always strive for powers and never satisfied with what they have. They will continue to want more and more until everything is gone. They are willing to sacrifice life in exchange for greater power and darkness. With so much power in their hands, they hide themselves from the inevitable truth of the unshakable sins. Duel Monster spirits can see the truth and accept their destiny." Shadow explained, "That is why I put my belief in this deck to show the duelists' true destinies."

Suddenly they heard a cold laugh and they all glanced toward the source.

Kurai had already drawn his card and he was laughing coldly, "How pathetic. So pathetic."

"Hey, that was mean!" Izumi shouted.

"Shut up!" Kurai retorted, "All that shit you said reminded me of him…that despicable idiot that I always hate. It's not the same but he believes in heroes, justice, and Duel Monster spirits. He believes in the heart of the deck and all that naïve crap. I suggest you should rethink your pathetic naivety." He slammed a card down, "I place one monster facedown and I end my turn. I'll show you that destiny is crap by beating you."

"Him?" Tsubaki whispered, "Whose him?"

Izumi answered truthfully, "I don't know…but I never see Yuki so angry about it."

Alexander advised, "Although we might be curious about this "him," it's probably best we drop it if we don't want to provoke Yuki's wrath."

Izumi slowly nodded in agreement. Tsubaki rolled his eyes, "Yeah, no kidding."

Shadow narrowed his eyes and drew his card, "This is the end. You had no face-down cards to protect your only defense! Thoroughbred Elf, destroy his last line of defense!" The Elf fighter vanished and immediately, he gave a drop kick on the face-down monster but it wasn't destroyed. Shadow's eyes widened, "What?"

Kurai explained, "You can't destroy my face-down card because of your own card." Slowly, the monster revealed itself as Kurai continued to speak, "The monster you attack is my E-Merc Wood Elf Archer." [**M9(4/1400/1200)**] It was an elf with his sharp pointed ears but long green hair tied in a ponytail. He wore a dark brown wooden helmet decorated with gold lines. He also had the same color and patterns on his strap shoulder pad, archer bracers, and greaves. He wore light-green shirt over his wood-brown pants with a forest green cloak. The elf held a metallic bow colored in stainless vine green, "Because of your field card, my mercenary elf cannot be destroyed in battle. Your strength has become your weakness, old man. How does it feel to know that your precious selfless elf is a mercenary working for cold hard cash?"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "That was rather harsh."

Shadow remained silent for awhile and finally spoke, "I end my turn."

"Draw!" Kurai glanced at his drew card, "I don't believe in faith. But I believe in luck! I summon E-Merc Flame Beserker!" [**M10(3/1200/900)**] The flame warrior arrived on the field with his large flame broadsword, "I play a Magic Card, Rage of Flame!" [**S6**] He inserted his magic card, revealing a picture of the flame mercenary roaring his battle cry and the surroundings were in fire, "This card only activated when there's E-Merc Flame Beserker on the Field. I can destroy all face up magic/trap cards and do 500 damage for each one," The Flame Beserker stabbed his broadsword on the Field and started to glow orange as he was charging himself. He roared a loud battle cry as orange lines erupted from his body and entered his broadsword. The broadsword burst into flames, spreading fires through the Field, burning the entire trees. Falling burning branches nearly hit Shadow. A single burning branch fell and almost landed near Lisa.

Lisa screamed as the fire nearly scorched her skin, "When do holograms became so real?"

Vanessa sweat-dropped, "I think it's just your imagination, Miss Lisa."

Izumi just watched the entire forest burned down in front of her eyes, "This is horrible…"

Tsubaki agreed, "Yeah, no kidding. This is probably one of the saddest things I seen in duels."

"I think it's kinda alluring." Alex smiled.

Both Osiris Red students looked at him as he was crazy.

The trees became charcoal black and dissolved into ashes as the ocean breeze blew by.

"Because I destroyed one magic card, I get to do 500 damages to you." Kurai explained.

Shadow: 2500 – 500 = 2000. Kurai: 1900.

"Next," Kurai smirked, "I play Polymerization and fuse my E-Merc Wood Elf Archer and E-Merc Bolt Assassin to summon E-Merc Lightning Huntsman!" [**M11(6/2200/1700)**] The Bolt Assassin appeared on the field and disappeared into the swirling circle along with the Wood Elf Archer. Suddenly a sharp vine out of tree branches grew out of the ground and reached toward the sky. Black clouds filled the sky and struck the tree with its most powerful lightning. The electricity split the tree in half, revealing an elf archer with sleek obsidian black chest armor with blue lightning decorations along with smoothly curved shoulder pads and arm armors. He wore forest green pant covered by black armored skirt on the sides and black greaves. He had a black helmet curved with lightning bolts attached to the sides and blue covered glass that covered his entire face. Behind his helmet was his long green vine-like hair. He also had a midnight blue cloak attached to his back with inner covering of green.

"Another fusion with E-Mercs?" Izumi was surprised.

"My E-Merc Lightning Huntsman gains 200 ATK for each of your monsters on the Field!" The Huntsman waved his black gloved hand and suddenly wooden vines wrapped around the three elves, keeping them at bay. Their capture made the Huntsman's targeting easier thus increasing his ATK from 2200 to 2800, "Also, it has the ability to attack all your enemies at once!" Kurai ordered, "My first choice! Elven Ranger!" The Huntsman stretched out his arm and suddenly a lightning bolt struck his hand, creating a bow out of pure lightning. The E-Merc used his other hand to create an unstable lightning arrow and he aimed it toward the Elven Ranger. He let go of his hand and the arrow was released. The thunder arrow struck the Elven Ranger's chest and gave him the biggest shock of his life, "And that's not all! For each monster my Huntsman destroys, I can deal 300 damage to you!" With the aid of vines' conductivity as lightning rod, the lightning created an explosive fire that not only burned the elf into ashes but damaged Shadow with burning after shockwave.

Shadow: 2000 – 1500 – 300 = 200. Kurai: 1900.

Kurai shouted, "My second choice! Thoroughbred elf!" The Huntsman fired another shocking arrow that shattered the fighter elf into thousand pieces that rained upon Shadow.

Shadow: 200 – 1000 – 300 = 0. Kurai: 1900.

"I have lost. Beaten by my own chosen ally," Shadow claimed as the holograms disappeared, "You are an interesting duelist yet strangely, I do not sense the king's power inside of you."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kurai raised his eyes in suspicion, "What do you mean by the king's power?"

Alexander smiled, "That was a brilliant victory."

Izumi nodded and thought to herself, '_Yuki is really amazing. He beats the Professor. Fought an Obelisk blue, defeat a Ra Yellow, and now he even won against the duelist that fought many pros in the past.'_ Izumi complimented, "Yuki, you are so cool!"

Tsubaki just stared in surprise as he couldn't believe that Kurai won against a powerful opponent, _'I thought…I really thought that all his victories were just flukes…but…he's either lucky or really good…no…he's definitely good…damnit.'_ He slowly narrowed his eyes as he clenched his shaking fists.

Kurai ordered coldly, "Hey old man, I won! Now spill it!"

"I'm afraid I can't," Shadow replied.

Kurai glared, "Why not?"

Shadow countered, "It is not time. Perhaps…when we meet again….I will reveal everything. I will tell you this, near the Duel Academy lies a ruin. If you seek more power, go to that ruin."

Kurai's eyes widened, "Hey!" He was about to grab him but suddenly a tidal wave crashed toward the cliff. The cold duelist covered his eyes as he braced the wave. He quickly averted his sight back to Shadow who mysteriously vanished. Kurai frowned, "Damnit!"

"Yuki," Izumi spoke his name with concern as she thought to herself, _'What was that all about? What's going on? Why do I have the feeling that we are going to be involved in something big?'  
_

* * *

"W-what are you doing?" Titan was being swallowed by the darkness, "Impossible! Are you telling me that Games of Darkness really exist?" He ended being completely swallowed.

"Wow, awesome…" Judai pointed at the darkness while looking at Hane Kuriboh, "What in the world is happening?"

"Kuri. Kuri." Hane Kurbioh looked away.

"Awesome." Judai wasn't thinking how serious the Game of Darkness was.

"Kuri! Kuri! Kuri!" Hane Kuriboh grabbed Judai's attention as the winged ball found a way out.

Judai looked back and noticed a hole of light, "Go that way? Got it! So, that's our exit!" He jumped out of the hole and fell back to the basement of the abandoned dorms where the others were.

"Aniki!" Sho ran up to Judai.

"Judai!" Hayato ran too.

Judai noticed the others and smiled, "Are you guys all right?"

"That voice just now…" Hayato then noticed the hole was getting chaotic, "Hit the ground!" He grabbed Sho as they get to the ground.

The hole started to suck in as it was shrinking. The students laid firm on the ground but Judai noticed that the coffin holding Asuka was getting sucked too, "Asuka!" Judai stopped the coffin until finally, the hole closed completely.

Judai just watched in awe and then clapped, "Ohh! I didn't even know how he did this trick." Not even realizing that the Game of Darkness was real.

Hayato was trying to confirm the voice he just heard, _'I thought I heard a Duel Monster's voice just a second ago…'_

Sho asked, "Aniki, where did that guy go?"

Judai answered, "When he lost that duel, he high-tailed it out of there." He sighed disappointedly, "Speaking of which, even though his last roulette was off, I really couldn't figure that other trick, either." He was referring to the Millennium symbol flashing in the middle of the duel field. He still had not comprehended the realness of the Game of Darkness.

**

* * *

TBC**

**Izumi: **I'm surprised! Yuki actually beat a strong duelist. It wouldn't be long now before he became insanely popular with everyone.

**Tsubaki grumbled.**

**Izumi: **But then, what's with the cryptic message left behind from Shadow? Chosen? King? Ruin? I guess we're not going to find out about those anytime soon.

**Tsubaki just grumbled even more and left.**

**Izumi: **Ehhhh? Yuki's deck is stolen! No time for worrying about cryptic messages then! Tsubaki, we have to help Yuki find his deck!

**Next Episode: Episode 6 – The Lost Deck**

**Izumi blinked: **Tsubaki? Where are you?...he…wouldn't….

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Duel**

**Alexander: **Today's choice is The Ancient Forest – Sacred Kingdom of the Elves. It's a magnificent and magical forest that increases the elves' strength. It also shields them from battles and evil spells.

**Izumi: **It's a very powerful card, isn't it? I wonder how many elves cards are there?

**Alexander chuckled**: There's not many because they are mostly Lv. 4 or less. Lack of powerful elves card made it unpopular with the duelist community even though one of Pegasus's protégée used it quite well.

**Izumi: **That's too bad because I think elves are amazing! Especially with their cool pointed ears!

**Alexander smiled: **Would you like to be an elf?

**Izumi: **Eh, really? Wait a minute…is this another one of your lies?

**Alexander smiled: **Nope, I can help you become an elf.

**Izumi: **Really?

**Alexander smiled: **Really. You just need to close your eyes.

**Izumi: **Well, alright! **::She closed her eyes as she let Alexander do his stuff::**

**Alexander: **Here you go. **::he held a mirror::**

**Izumi opened her eyes. She blinked: **AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Why is my skin blue?

**Alexander smiled: **I said I'll help you become an elf. And I did, I helped you became Mystical Elf.

**Izumi: **ALEX!

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Learning Elf: Earth/Spellcaster/3/1400/1500**: Effect: When this monster is sent to the Graveyard, draw 1 card.

**M2 - ****E-Merc Tempest Lady: Wind/Warrior/3/1000/1000**

**M3 - ****E-Merc Blazing Windman: Wind/Warrior – Fusion/6/2100/1200**: This card can only be special summoned by fusion summon. When this card destroys and sends a Monster to the graveyard in battle, do damage equal to the defense strength of the monster destroyed to your opponent.

**M4 - ****Retrained Elven Swordsman: Earth/Warrior/4/1400/1200**: Effect: This card cannot be destroyed in battle with a monster that has an ATK of 1900 or higher. (Damage is still done.)

**M5 - ****Thoroughbred Elf: Earth/Warrior/4/1800/1500**

**M6 - ****Elven Ranger: Earth/Warrior/4/1300/1400**: Effect: When there's [The Ancient Forest – Sacred Kingdom of Elves], you may activate this effect. Select one of your opponent's monster and decrease the selected monster's ATK by the number of the ATK of this monster until the end of your turn. By using this effect, this card cannot attack this turn.

**M7 - ****Fiend Husky: Earth/Machine/3/800/1200**: If this monster is sent to the Graveyard, you can return 1 [Polymerization] and 1 monster with [E-Merc] in its name into your hand.

**M8 - ****E-Merc Stone Guarder: Earth/Warrior/4/800/2000**

**M9 - ****E-Merc Wood Elf Archer: Wind/Warrior/4/1400/1200**

**M10 - ****E-Merc Flame Beserker: Fire/Warrior/3/1200/900**

**M11 - ****E-Merc Lightning Huntsman: Light/Warrior – Fusion/6/2200/1700**: Effect: This monster can attack each of your opponent's monsters once. When this monster attacks, it gains 200 ATK for each opponent's monster until the End Phase of your turn. For each monster this card destroys, inflict 300 damage to your opponent.

**S1 - ****Tornado Duster – Normal Magic**: You can only activate this card when there's [Tempest Lady] on the field. Destroys all of your opponent's Magic and Traps cards on the Field.

**S2 - ****Polymerization – Normal Magic**: Fuses 2 or more Fusion-Material Monsters to form a new Fusion Monster.

**S3 - ****Spirit Slayer – Equipment Magic**: Decrease the target monster's attack points by 500. Increase the equipped monster's attack points by 500.

**S4 - ****The Ancient Forest – Sacred Kingdom of Elves – Field Magic**: Increase all monsters with [Elf] and [Elven] within its names's ATK and DEF by 300. These monsters cannot be destroyed as the result of battle (Damage is still done) and by any Magic cards.

**S5 - ****Tears of the Forest – Normal Magic**: Can only activate when there's [The Ancient Forest – Sacred Kingdom of Elves]. You can special summon monsters that were destroyed this turn back to the Field from the Graveyard.

**S6 - ****Rage of Flame – Normal Magic**: Can only activate when there's [E-Merc Flame Beserker] on the field. Destroys all face-up magic and trap cards and dealt 500 damage for each card destroyed this way.

**T1 – ****Mirror Barrier – Trap: **Activate only when your opponent declares an attack. After activation, this card is treated as an Equip Card. The equipped monster cannot be declared as an attack target. During your 3rd Standby Phase after this card's activation, destroy this card.

**T2 - ****Hired Mercenary – Trap**: This card can only be activate when one of your monster on the field is destroyed as a result of battle. Special summon a monster with [E-Merc] in its name that is Level 4 or lower from your hand or deck.

**T3 - ****Rock Kamikaze – Trap**: Can only activate when there's [E-Merc Stone Guarder] on the field. Sacrifice [E-Merc Stone Guarder] and destroy all of your opponent's face-up monsters on the Field with the defense strength lower or equals to the sacrificed monster's defense strength.


	10. 6A: The Lost Deck

**Author's Note: **It wouldn't be friendship or relationship if you don't have fights. I wanna shout out thanks to Boogiepop and Lonely Ghost for being awesome reviewers!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh or anything related to it. Credit goes to GLL99 for subs of GX episode 7.

**

* * *

Episode 6: The Lost Deck**

High school gossips were considered weapons. They could be very deadly weapons in the hands of teenagers especially when juiced rumor could land in the girls' hands particularly Lisa and Vanessa, the dynamic duo of gossips. The duel between Kurai and Shadow had reached the Duel Academy's ears and his popularity suddenly rocketed high making the Osiris Red Headmaster proud.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! I knew that guy can do it!" Tyrell laughed haughtily while sitting behind a desk in the teacher's staff room inside the Duel Academy building, "I knew from the very beginning that guy has the stuff to reach the very top! That's why I challenged him in the very beginning!" He laughed even more as he felt extremely proud.

"I like to share your excitement," Mileah, Ra Yellow Headmistress, was sitting in another desk closeby, littered with occult stuff and black candles, "but my otherworldly friends does not seem very happy. I'm trying to figure out why."

Tyrell stopped laughing as he looked at Mileah suspiciously, "Um…what do you mean by that?" He then glanced around nervously for any ghosts. He may be a proud man but he wouldn't deny his fear of something that he couldn't see.

"It means…they may not be happy about Kurai's victory over Shadow." Mileah warned.

Tyrell cringed, "Ekk! Are you saying there's some ghosts who's holding some kind of grudge against Kurai?"

Mileah had a dark glowing aura as she was making the atmosphere scarier on purpose, "It's a possibility."

"No way!" Tyrell screamed, not even bothering to hide his fear in his tone.

The staff room's door slid opened as a voluptuous Obelisk Blue Headmistress walked with a sexy stride, "Now, now, Miss Mileah, please don't scare our employee off like you did last year."

"Julia!" Tyrell blushed slightly as he couldn't help but stare at Zenobia's body a little.

"I only tell what the spirits feel, Miss Zenobia." Mileah stated innocently and then prayed for the afterlife.

Zenobia chuckled seductively, "Of course, Miss Mileah. I just want to tell you that we don't want to lose any more employees." She averted her eyes toward Tyrell, "Congratulations, Mr. Tyrell, it seemed your student is bringing lot of praise to your dorm."

"Heh, thanks!" Tyrell grinned, "I didn't do anything. It was all his work."

"You undermined yourself," Zenobia praised, "It's all thanks to your brilliant teachings."

Mileah commented, "Would you call teaching Physical Education brilliant teachings?"

"Hey!" Tyrell whined, "Is this some kinda indirect implication that I'm an idiot too?"

"By the way," Zenobia changed the subject, "wherever is that hag-I mean Headmistress of your dorm?"

"You mean Carol?" Tyrell didn't catch Zenobia's insult, "She went on disciplinary patrol. She's not happy that a troublemaker duelist like Kurai beats Shadow."

"Shadow…Shadow…" Mileah confirmed, "The spirits tells me that he's not a human but a lingering spirit who has not moved on to the afterlife."

"Ehhhh?" Tyrell was surprised, "Are you kidding me?"

* * *

After the duel with the mysterious duelist, it was the start of a new week in Duel Academy. Kurai was walking the hallway, ignoring the whispers of the students walking past him. He walked up to his locker and about to open it until….

"Yukiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" A certain girl was yelling his name.

Kurai's forehead vein twitched because the most annoying person had now officially ruined his day already.

Izumi rushed up to him while carrying her Hane Kuriboh backpack, "Yuki, your duel with Shadow is all over the school!"

Kurai looked at her with a bored expression, "So?"

"Hello, don't you know what that means?" Izumi shouted.

Kurai just stayed silent while looking at Izumi with an "I don't care" expression.

Izumi sighed, "Look, as you already know, Shadow is kinda infamous duelist for beating many Pro duelists, so he's good…of course he's not good as the legendary Duel King!" She was starry eyed as she imagined the King of Duelists with a handsome face and beckoning holy light.

"Excuse me! HANDSOME Club Members walking through!" Two female Obelisk Blue duelists walked past Izumi with the giant poster of the King of Duelists.

Izumi snapped back to reality, "Dueling some famous duelist makes you famous too!"

"Really?" Kurai raised his eye in disbelief, "What do you know about Insector Haga?"

"Who?" Izumi asked with a question mark above her face.

"I rest my case." Kurai replied, knowing that he's right.

"Oh never mind about Haga or whatever he is," Izumi shrugged him off, "The point is this is sort of like high school."

"So…?" Kurai replied with indifferent tone.

"We have statuses here! Teenagers judged us! Well in some Obelisk Blue' eyes, we Osiris Reds are considered as dropouts. But now you're not!" Izumi exclaimed, "You defied clichés!"

"I don't give a shit about fame and fortune or whatever others think of who I am." Kurai glared.

Izumi closed her eyes as she swayed her head, "You poor naïve fool. Nobody really cares about you think but what you do."

Kurai twitched as he was being called a fool, _'Ignore her. Ignore the idiot. You're only stuck with her for few years and then she's gone!'_ He opened his locker, just to find piles of pink envelopes and candies falling on him, "What the hell?"

"Oh chocolates!" Izumi picked one up from Kurai's pile on the ground, "It looks like your duel made you popular with the girls! Aren't you lucky, Yuki?"

Kurai just grabbed his textbooks and stormed off, "You can keep the crap."

"What?" Izumi dropped the chocolate, "As much as I love sweets but they're your gifts from your fangirls!"

"I don't care." Kurai replied coldly.

"But girls spent so much time writing letters to you!" Izumi tossed the pile of envelopes at him, "It would be so insulting to girls' hard works if you don't read it and reply to it!" Izumi pleaded, "You have to understand the girls' gentle hearts."

Kurai's forehead vein was twitching more than ever. He gently grabbed the pile of letters and walked off.

"Yuki!" Izumi stared at him with admiration, "You're not such a bad guy after all!"

Kurai walked up to the nearest trash can and dumped the entire pile in it. Izumi's jawbone dropped while she gaped with white blank eyes with shadow over them. Izumi yelled, "You're horrible!"

Kurai just shrugged her off as he walked to his class.

Izumi shouted after him, "At least, you could have save the cute Hane Kuriboh dolls for me!" She picked up the Hane Kuriboh stuffed dolls from the trash, "I can't believe Yuki would throw such a cute Kuriboh…" She glanced back and saw her fellow Osiris Red classmate taking textbooks out of his locker, "Hey, Tsubaki!"

Tsubaki glanced back at Izumi and then frowned as he slammed his locker door and walked away.

Izumi blinked in confusion and pondered_, 'What's wrong with him? He's been acting so weird since the duel.'  
_

* * *

On that day when Kurai had a duel with Shadow, Kurai was very pissed off at the fact that Shadow vanished without telling him a single thing. He stormed past Izumi and Tsubaki, ignoring them.

Izumi asked, "Yuki, what was that all about? What do you mean spill? Do you know something about that guy? What does he mean by King?"

Kurai just ignored her and continued on.

"Yuki!" Izumi shouted his name but Alexander stopped her.

"I think you should stay away from him tonight. He seemed like he needs time alone." Alexander smiled, "I should take my leave too. I'll see you again in school."

"Okay, bye, Alex." Izumi waved and looked at Tsubaki whose eyes were in shadows, "Well that was an interesting duel, don't you think?"

Tsubaki gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists tighter.

Izumi commented, "Yuki is really an amazing duelist."

Tsubaki scowled, "Yeah so amazing," He spoke sarcastically, "Why don't he become an Obelisk Blue?" He stormed off.

Izumi blinked in surprise, "Okay….what pissed him off?"

* * *

Back to the present, Izumi was still pondering to herself, _'I wonder why Tsubaki is so angry...is this some kind of man stuff or something? If it is, I'm not going to be able to understand it.'  
_

* * *

Inside a classroom, there was flock of girls sitting on their desk waiting for their club meeting to start. Suddenly the door slid opened, revealing Lisa and Vanessa, the Blue Obelisk troublemaking duo. Vanessa yelled, "All rise for President Lisa!"

The girls stood up abruptly.

Lisa walked to the pedestal set in front of the classroom.

Vanessa yelled again, "All seated!"

The girls took their seats quickly.

Lisa coughed to clear her throat, "Welcome ladies to the Hunky, Attractive, Noble, Dangerous, So Magnificent, Elegant aka HANDSOME Club where we girls get to ogle at cute guys of the Duel Academy. The meeting will now begin."

The girls applauded.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Lisa adored the attention, "Okay you may stop now. Ho. Ho. Ho."

Vanessa shouted, "Silence!"

The girls quickly became silent.

"Now that I have your full undivided attention to me," Lisa pointed to herself, "I like to start the Hottie of the week! As you all know, the previous was Alexander Von Schroeder. What a perfect gentleman." Lisa exaggerated, "But now we have voted the new Hottie of the Week!"

Vanessa pulled the string, letting the curtain fell down behind Lisa and revealed a gigantic poster of Kurai's face.

Lisa yelled, "Kurai Yuki! The cold handsome loner!"

All the girls went "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

"But," Lisa pointed out, "He's really cold, mean, and can be scary."

Vanessa nodded frantically.

"Because of that, I ranked him zero on his personality score but," Lisa exclaimed, "His recent duels with the top duelists such as the previous year's hottie, Hyun-Ki earns him extra bonus points on dueling skills!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," The girls mouthed.

"However that will soon all change because I have discovered that Kurai Yuki was actually a very admirable man (a lie but I'm not telling) until a witch has corrupted his mind and turned him into that cold hearted duelist!" Lisa claimed while snapping her fingers to Vanessa.

Vanessa pulled another string and suddenly a sandbag smacked Lisa on the head, "…..opps."

"The other string, damnit!" Lisa yelled with a large throbbing bump on her head.

Vanessa sweat-dropped frantically as she pulled the other string, revealing a giant poster of Izumi's yawning face.

"This is the witch that had corrupted our hottie's mind!" Lisa declared.

The girls gasped dramatically.

"This week, we should shower him with special attention," Lisa's smiling face slowly become demonic, "And at the same time, we should crush that witch!" Lisa put on a fake smile, "That'll be all."

* * *

Izumi suddenly had the chills shivering up her spine, "I just had a feeling that something bad is going to happened."

During History class, Professor Morgan was demanding her entire class to turn in homework.

Kurai was looking through his black backpack and cussed, "Shit." He groaned, _'I know I did the stupid homework. How can it disappear?'  
_  
"Hey, Yuki! Forgot your homework?" Izumi was about to sit next to him.

Lisa slammed Izumi out of the way and sat there, "Hi, Yuki!" She smiled.

"Ack!" Izumi fell on the floor, "Hey!" She glared at Lisa.

Lisa glanced at her, "Oh hi, I didn't see you there." She looked back at Kurai, "Forgot your homework? Here, I did it for you!" She handed it to Kurai.

Kurai raised his eye in suspicion and he glanced at Lisa's homework who somehow wrote an I in his name with hearts instead of dots, "… ….Good enough."

Izumi fumed as she went to her another seat which was next to Tsubaki, "Hey, Tsubaki, Did Yuki's fangirl took your seat because Lisa just took mine." She sighed.

"I see…" Tsubaki tried to look away.

Izumi shrugged, "Well, that's expected considering Yuki did defeat Shadow and he's pretty good looking, so bunch of girls would want to sit next to him." She gagged as Lisa was trying to flirt with Kurai, who just ignored her coldly.

"I…think he's just lucky, you know…" Tsubaki was hurrying through his stuff in his red backpack as he was feeling uncomfortable.

"I thought so at first when Yuki beat the professor," Izumi admitted, "But after watching his duels, I really think he's good. If it wasn't for me, he would be in Ra Yellow or better." She rolled her eyes, "Of course, if he wasn't being so mean, he wouldn't be in Red in the first place." She laughed.

Tsubaki frowned, "He was rude, so he got what he deserved."

"Well…" Izumi remembered Kurai's rare act of kindness when she was crying, "I wouldn't exactly call him rude…I think he just want to be alone…I wonder why he wants that…" She looked back and noticed something, "Hey, there's no fan girl taking your seat."

Tsubaki didn't answer as he found a cold guy's homework inside his backpack. He quickly zipped it up before Izumi looked back at him.

Izumi asked, "How come you're not sitting next to Yuki?"

Tsubaki snapped out of frustration, "Do we have to talk about Yuki all the time?"

Izumi cringed at his tone, "Tsubaki, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" Tsubaki growled, "I'm just annoyed with hearing Yuki there and Yuki here and Yuki everywhere!"

"Tsubaki….." Izumi was about to ask what's his problem.

"No talking in the classroom!" Morgan shrieked.

* * *

Inside the Academy building of Duel Academia island.

"Ehhhhhh?" Judai and Sho were shocked, "Expelled?" They were standing in a large circular room surrounded by large TV screens containing faces of the staff. Among the faces were two familiar faces, Principal Samejima and Professor Chronos.

A woman, the head of campus security, revealed the details, "Earlier today, Yuki Judai and his two accomplices broke into the special dormitory which is closed-off and was made off-limits, and wreaked havoc inside. The investigation has commenced!"

"Eh," Judai pleaded, "we'll do anything you say, just give us a chance!"

"Well then, I propose another way to penalize you two." Chronos suggested, "And that would be a Punishment Tag Duel!"

Judai repeated, "Punishment Tag Duel?"

"Precisely," Chronos explained, "Yuki Judai and Marufuji Sho, you two will form a tag team to duel-no ne. Should you win the duel, you will then be cleared of all charges-na no ne."

"A tag duel?" Judai clenched his fist out of excitement, "Sounds like fun."

"Eh?" Sho looked at Judai concernedly, "This is bad, Aniki!"

"Principal!" Chronos confirmed, "It seems that even he himself is satisfied with the idea."

"Well then," Samejima accepted, "it seems we have no other choice."

"Should you lose," Chronos declared, "you will be expelled immediately! The opponents you will face in your Punishment Tag Duel will be made public by me at a later time-no ne."

* * *

Izumi was heading toward the cafeteria, _'Something is wrong with Tsubaki and it's clear that it have something to do with Yuki. I should tell Yuki about it.'_ Izumi sighted Yuki, "Hey, Yuki!" She was about to rushed up to him until a locker door opened and slammed her face. She then slid down the locker door and fell on her bottom, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" She was holding her face.

"Opps, sorry." A female Ra Yellow student apologized. Izumi failed to notice a small badge on her sleeve, saying HANDSOME Club.

Lisa rushed up to Yuki, "Yuki, I know we got off to a bad start back then and I want to make it up to so you so badly."

Kurai just dumped his textbooks into his locker, not even give a damn about a girl close to him.

Lisa continued, "I realized that doing your homework is not enough to gain forgiveness from you. So…" She snapped her fingers and suddenly, a renowned Sushi chef appeared behind her, "Please, Lord Yuki, allow me to treat you to a five-star sushi made out of the most expensive and freshest ingredients!" Lisa puts on her model smile as she raised her arm over a table of fresh raw fishes.

That certainly grabbed Kurai's interest. For the first time, Kurai might have faint stars inside his eyes as he stared at the most wonderful food, the pride of Japan. Who could blame him? He rarely got sushi in America because they're not exactly authentic as Japan. Plus how could his Japanese blood refuse a five-star sushi meal over a complimentary Osiris Red mystery meat of the day.

Izumi quickly stood up and yelled at Lisa, "Lisa! Don't think you can bribe Yuki's attention with food! He's too prideful for that!"

For the first time in history of cold people, Kurai asked with a very tiny cute blush on his cheeks, "…can I have fatty tuna?"

Izumi gaped in pure white horror, _'Yuki was actually bribed? And then he said it with an innocent child-like expression? That is so not Yuki!'_

Lisa grinned, "Wonderful!" She grabbed his arm, "Allow me to introduce you to the other girls!"

Izumi's hand lifted like a dead zombie as she called out desperately, "Yuki….." She could only watch her cold friend disappeared into the Obelisk Blue cafeteria, "Wait!" She slapped herself silly, "Our friendship is at stake here! I have to tell Yuki about Tsubaki!" She quickly chased after Kurai, "Yuki!" She stopped running as she noticed a Duel monster card on the field, "Did someone drop it? Well, better take it to the Lost and Found then." She picked up the card and saw that it was Traphole, "Trap…Hole? Huh?" Suddenly, a trap hole dropped below her and Izumi screamed like hell.

Anime clock spun and Izumi returned back to the hallway leading into Obelisk Blue cafeteria. She questioned, "Why is there a trap hole in this hallway in the first place? Well, I'm not going to fall for that!" She noticed another card. She stood there for a long time as she was torn between talking to Yuki or picking up that card. She suddenly picked up that card, "I just gotta see it!" She read it, "Amazonness Archers?"

In few seconds, she was chased by deadly arrows. Izumi cried, "Yukiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

Anime clock spun and Izumi was back in the hallway. She groaned as she took out a rubber arrow off her behind, "I'm not going to fall for that trap again!" She then noticed another card on the ground, "….I wonder what it is…" She picked up that card and read it, "Torrential Tribute…Ah crap…"

Izumi screamed as she was suddenly washed down the hallway by mysterious flood, "Yukiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

Anime clock spun and Izumi was in the hallway again, soaking wet. Sadly, due to her gullibility, she picked up another card that said Blasting the Ruins, "Ah…crap…"

Izumi was running away from giant rolling boulders, "Yukiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

Anime clock spun and Izumi was wrapped in bandages. She mumbled, "You know…I think Yuki's fangirls are trying to prevent me from being with Yuki….and they're taking an advantage of my damn curiosity!" She noticed another card, "No! I won't fall for that trap again! You hear me! I won't fall for it!" She picked it up anyway and she wept in shame, "Maybe this is why I kept believing Alex's lies during Strongest Card of the Duel segments…" She gulped as she glanced at the card, "Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts….Ha! There's no way that card exists in the real world!" She suddenly heard a growl, "…ah crap…"

Izumi was running down the hallway in the speed of light, screaming, "Why is there a lion in Duel Academy or on this island at all!" She was being chased by a lion.

Izumi was gasping hard as she managed to avoid lot of nasty traps even though Kurai was only few hundred feet away from her.

"Why do you want to talk to him so badly?" Tsubaki asked as he kneeled beside her.

"Tsubaki!" Izumi shouted, "What is your problem with Yuki?"

"W-what? I asked my question first!" Tsubaki countered.

"Never mind me!" Izumi replied, "We used to be together but now you're just distant and Yuki is right there but the fan girls are preventing me from getting to him!"

"Yuki…Yuki. Yuki. Yuki." Tsubaki repeated his name with anger.

"Tsubaki?" Izumi asked.

"What's so great about him?" Tsubaki snapped, "Sure he fought awesome duelists but that's just pure luck! But really, he's just an arrogant asshole!"

Izumi couldn't believe her ears. She stood up and shouted, "Tsubaki! How could you say that?"

"How could I say that? Have you seen the way he treated us?" Tsubaki roared, "He's belittling us!"

"Tsubaki, what cause you to change like this?" Izumi questioned.

"I just hate him. The way duelists challenge him from right and left! How can they be impressive of him? He's a cold hearted stiff bastard!" Tsubaki stormed off.

Izumi couldn't believe what just happened. She thought to herself, _'Is he jealous? Oh for Goodness's sakes. Why are boys so competitive? I gotta make Tsubaki happy or we won't be together!'_ She crossed her arms and walked back to her room, giving up on talking to Yuki for a moment.

* * *

She was sitting on her desk chair as she was trying to think of some ideas but came up with nothing. Izumi groaned, "Our friendship is already going doing the drain and it only has been few weeks." Suddenly she heard the door slammed and she glanced up. Her eyes widened in shock and she yelled, "Yuki?"

Kurai quickly covered her mouth with his hands.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" Izumi tried to speak until she heard noises from outside.

"I saw Lord Yuki went this way!"

"No, I saw him went that way!"

"I saw him dive into the sea!"

"…seriously? Lord Yuki!"

Suddenly Izumi heard splashes and she sweat-dropped, _'Fan girls can be so weird.'_

Kurai sighed out of relief as he let go of her mouth.

"What are you doing in my room?" Izumi demanded to know because she believed in privacy very much plus not to mention once Morgan found out, his eggroll will be gone.

Kurai looked at her as she was an idiot, "Hiding, moron."

Izumi frowned at his insult but ignored it, "Do you know that Tsubaki's mad at you?"

"So?" Kurai glanced around her room.

Izumi complained, "That's because he was jealous of your fame! You should talk to him."

Kurai replied coldly, "I never asked for it. So don't even bother wasting your breathe on me."

Izumi pouted, "You know, this wouldn't happen if you show a little respect to us."

Kurai brushed her aside, "Hmph."

Izumi narrowed her eyes, feeling furious at Kurai's attitude, but her expression softened to sorrow, "But I want us to be together…It's the first time I have American friends ever since my family moved from Japan….I was really happy….we have so much fun together even though you can be such a prick sometimes but it was still fun…and now this happened….." She sniffled.

Kurai suddenly cringed as he realized what was going to happen next. He hates crying but sadly he cannot resist it due to the damn Yuki sense of justice. He cussed at himself for his pathetic weakness. He looked through his pocket for a handkerchief. As he searched through his pocket, his amber eyes widened. He cursed, "Damnit."

Izumi stopped sniffling, "Yuki? What's wrong?"

"….My deck is gone." Kurai answered.

**PART A END**


	11. 6B: The Lost Deck

**Author's Note: **An old friend of mine came up with Radnor's character and decktype but I change his character around except the decktype. I will probably check his deck in the far future because…well, you'll see this chapter. OH and this chapter, it will reveal Tsubaki's connection with two GX characters and two Duel Monsters character. I'm very sure you can guess three out of four. If you managed to guess the fourth one, tons of cookies of you!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh at all. Credit goes to GLL99 for subs of Yugioh GX episode 7.

**

* * *

Episode 6: PART B!**

Kurai appeared on the screen with a pissed off look. Izumi was in the center with a concerned expression. Tsubaki was facing the left with the cruel look of jealously. And of course, the official logo of Yugioh GX on the bottom right corner.

Kurai blinked at this new screen, "There's no duel monster in there."

"Oh that's because I don't want to spoil the story by showing a new card!" The narrator explained.

"Doesn't really matter. You still suck." Kurai walked away.

The narrator gaped with teary eyes and shocked expression.

* * *

At the Duel Academy, Kurai was stomping on the hallway, feeling extremely pissed off.

"Yuki!" Izumi shouted as she followed him, "Do you think Lisa took your deck? Maybe that's why she's too nice to you!"

"Doubt it." Kurai replied.

"Doubt it?" Izumi gasped, "Is it because you actually like her?"

"Hell no," Kurai scowled, "She's an idiot. That's why."

"Oh," Izumi understood and then pointed out, "Yuki, we have to find your deck right away! Dueling class is going to start in hour!"

"Do you think I already know that?" Kurai growled because his deck, his very deck that was made to beat that person, was stolen.

Izumi asked, "Okay when do you last have it?" Suddenly random female students ran past them and soon a lion chased them afterwards. A giant sweat-drop formed on Izumi's head.

Kurai pointed to the lion and was about to ask but Izumi pushed him away, "Don't ask!"

* * *

Somewhere else in the Duel Academy, a red-haired person was holding a deck of cards in his hand. He held it over the trash bin, hesitating if he should dump it or not. Tsubaki sighed frustratingly, "I can't believe I'm doing this…am I really that jealous of Yuki because he won so much?" He withdrew the deck away from the trash bin and groaned, "I shouldn't be doing this…this is not me…Wait…" Tsubaki just remembered something, "…this is me…" His golden eyes wavered, "I'm doing the same thing like before…"

"Hey, whatcha doing?"

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Tsubaki screamed as he almost dumped the cards in the trash but he quickly caught it. He sighed out of relief and glanced around to see where the voice came from. He blinked in confusion, "Huh?"

"Up here!" There was that voice again.

Tsubaki looked upward and suddenly, a maroon-haired boy just jumped from the second floor walkway. He screamed in shock, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The boy suddenly landed in front of him, causing Tsubaki to fell on the ground as he was completely stunned. The red-haired guy's eyes wavered in disbelief while staring at black sporty sneakers that belonged to the boy that just jumped, _'Did…did he just jumped all the way from the second floor?' _Tsubaki looked up to see the jumper's face.

It was a Ra Yellow student with an athletic body and messy yet cool maroon falling toward the ground due to the gravity. He wore short-sleeved Ra Yellow sports jacket over beige shorts. He greeted with a bright smile, "Hey there, fresh meat!"

"Fresh meat?" Tsubaki felt offended.

"Ha! Ha! Chill! I'm a fresh meat too except we're in different grades of course." The Ra student grinned and then he noticed the deck in Tsubaki's hand, "That's your deck, right? Why would you want throw it for? It's like your baby, you know? So you gotta treat it with care and lots of loving."

Tsubaki just stared at him as the guy was insane, _'Did he just compare a deck of Duel monsters to a baby?…is he crazy?'_

The Ra student continued, "Your deck is something you create with your own heart. You put your joy and love into this thing! You slept with it! You eat with it! You duel with it! Don't give it up on it so easily! The road to a perfect marriage is always tough."

Numerous sweat-drops appeared on Tsubaki's head. He thought, _'What the hell? Now he's comparing a deck to marriage? Okay, this guy is creeping me out.'_ He was about to leave him alone.

"Hey, where are you going?" The Ra student asked.

Tsubaki was sweating nervously. He laughed nervously too as he rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I just remember I have dueling class, so I gotta go."

"Hold on, you're going to dueling class?" The maroon haired boy grinned, "I'm going there too!"

Tsubaki laughed more, "Ha, ha, ha, I see. But that's impossible because I never seen you there."

The Ra Yellow student laughed along, "Oh that's because I usually skip it when I felt like it."

Tsubaki laughed, "Oh, I see. So why are you going this time?"

The Ra student laughed more, "That's because I want to see the deck that you're about to throw away and since we're going to the same class, you'll show me, right?"

Tsubaki laughed as he sweat-dropped, "Oh I see, I see. Well, now, why would I want to show you the deck?"

The Ra student laughed proudly, "Because I'm curious! So I won't give up until I satisfy it!"

Tsubaki's laughter slowly came to an end, "Oh…in that case…" He suddenly ran off, leaving blinking signs of his frame behind.

The Ra student blinked in confusion, "Hmm something's up." He grinned, "And I'm going to find out."

Tsubaki was running down the hallway, _'What the hell am I doing? I shouldn't be running away. I didn't do anything wrong…okay maybe I did…'_

"Hey, wait for me!"

Tsubaki looked back and his eyes turned wide as softball as the Ra Yellow student was chasing after him. Tsubaki panicked, _'Why is he after me?'_ He realized, _'Does he realize what I did? Oh crap, if he gets me, I'm going to be expelled from Duel Academy!'_

Tsubaki ran even faster with adrenaline gushing in his blood.

"Woah, now that's one fast dude!" The Ra student complimented.

Tsubaki suddenly heard a vroom and blinked, "Vroom?" He looked back and gaped.

The Ra Yellow student was chasing Tsubaki in Ra-like motorcycle and students were avoiding his way.

Tsubaki cried, "Is that even allowed?" He picked up his own pace. He made a skidding sound as he made a stop on the stairs. He grabbed the rail and jumped to the bottom floor, "Whew, I don't think he would follow me now."

But the Ra student suddenly broke through the window on the first floor and landed on the floor with perfect aerobics, "That's a 10! I'm telling ya!"

Tsubaki was stunned. He screamed and ran off.

Ra student blinked, "What do I do? Oh kids, don't try this at school. Oh what the hell, Go ahead and do it! Live free!"

Suddenly the entire map of the Duel Academy was a Pac-Man stage and Tsubaki was an innocent red Pac-Man fleeting for his life. On the other side was the yellow Pac-Man eater.

Tsubaki was running and screaming while the Ra student was chasing him on roller skates with jet engines.

Tsubaki complained, "That's impossible!" The Ra student was getting closer.

"Alright, got ya….woah, woah!" The Ra student skated past Tsubaki as he was getting too fast.

Tsubaki stopped and cringed as he heard a loud crash and a smoke wave completely covered him.

On the stage, the yellow Pac-Man eater was getting further away and the red Pac-Man was coughing smoke.

Tsubaki ran up the crowded stairs pushing students away. The students were complaining until the rude pushes until they heard a yahoo!

Tsubaki blinked as he repeated, "Yahoo?" He looked up and screamed as he watched the same Ra student sliding down the rail on a skateboard. Tsubaki quickly ran down the stairs while the students watched in awe.

On the stage, the yellow Pac-Man eater was even closer and the red Pac-Man was out of air.

Tsubaki was swimming through the gym swimming pool. He looked back and his eyes widened in shock again. He took out a sign that said That's impossible! He swam even faster and a Ra yellow scuba diver followed him.

On the game stage, the yellow Pac-Man eater was closer than ever while the red Pac-Man was soaking wet.

Tsubaki was running down the hallway with panicked look. Students were screaming as they scurried away. The Ra student yelled, "Yee Haw!" He was riding the lion.

* * *

At the Obelisk blue dorms, Lisa was walking down the hallway with Vanessa by her side. She suddenly remembered something. She glanced at Vanessa, "Did we ever return that lion?"

Vanessa just stood there in long silence. She was unsure how to answer that question. Meanwhile, the lion was still on the loose inside the Duel Academy.

* * *

On the stage, the yellow Pac-Man eater just swallowed the Red Pac-Man. The huge red printed words, "GAME OVER," flashed across the screen repeatedly.

Tsubaki was panting like crazy since he's been running for awhile, "Okay, I give up! Arrest me! Report me to the principal! Expel me!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" The Ra student asked.

"Didn't you know what I just did?" Tsubaki snapped.

The Ra student grinned, "I thought we were playing tag." He laughed, "By the way, I won!"

Tsubaki blinked. He blinked again. He yelled, "You chased me all over the academy just because you thought we're playing tag!"

The Ra student blinked, "You didn't know we're playing tag?" He smiled, "Heh, I couldn't tell because you're such a good runner. I have lot of fun!" He laughed cheerily.

Tsubaki twitched, "Jeeze, I'm glad you have fun while I was scared shitless."

"Since I won, can I look at your deck, please?" The Ra student begged happily.

Tsubaki groaned, "Fine." He handed it to him, _'How did this crazy guy get to be in Ra Yellow while I'm stuck in lousy Osiris Red?'_

The Ra student skimmed through the deck and commented, "Elemental Mercenaries? I never see this kind of monster. That's wicked awesome!"

"…it's not that awesome…" Tsubaki looked away.

"It's probably cool as my Elemental Heroes but you really have an advanced strong deck here!"

Tsubaki gritted his teeth, "It's…not that strong…"

The Ra student didn't hear him as he continued praising, "I bet you won a lot with this deck."

Tsubaki clenched his fists as it was the final straw. He roared, "Shut up!"

The Ra student was surprised and whistled, "Okayyyyy, someone need anger management class."

"Just shut your yap!" Tsubaki shouted, "The guy who owns this deck is a prick! A stupid goddamnit prick! The way he acts and the way he talks so arrogantly just pissed me off! He shows no respect for duelists like us!" Once he finished yelling, he panted with his eyes wavered out of a shame, _'And I'm a worser prick for doing such a stupid dirty move…'_

"…so this deck belong to someone else right?" The Ra student asked, "You stole it, huh?"

Tsubaki couldn't say anything.

"I never met the guy who owns the deck but I'm sure he's not so bad." The Ra student smiled, "I could tell he works hard on this deck. Beside you must really admire him, huh?"

"What?" Tsubaki was confused by Ra student's words.

Ra student grinned, "If you hate him so much it's probably because you admired him so much. After all…if he got you this riled up, you got a strong connection with him."

Tsubaki stared at the positive guy for awhile as he was pondering if he's right.

Ra student smirked, "You just gotta ask. Why are you jealous of him?" Suddenly the bell rang, "There's the bell, we gotta go to dueling class!" He ran off.

Tsubaki asked himself, "I admired him." He looked at Kurai's deck and narrowed his eyes, "No way I do…I hate that guy's guts…" He put it in his pocket and walked off the other direction.

* * *

The dueling class had started and Izumi had stars in her eyes as she clasped her hands with sparkles floating around her. She cried happily, "This is my first day here in Dueling class. All my patience in detention had finally paid off! I'm so happy that I'm going to cry!"

Kurai twitched.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Not that I'm happy that your deck is still gone."

"Izumi-san."

Izumi heard a familiar voice, "Shizuka-san!"

Shizuka walked up to her, "Izumi-san, it has been awhile. Who's your friend?"

"Oh this is Yuki, a classmate of mine." Izumi pointed to him, "What are you doing here?"

"Today, first years and second years are assigned together." Shizuka explained.

"Really why?" Izumi asked.

"If you pay attention to Instructor Rebecca, you'll know why." A calm voice spoke behind her.

"ACK!" Izumi jumped and looked back, "Alex! Would you stop appearing out of nowhere?"

Alexander chuckled, "It's fun."

"Oh Shizuka-san, this is Alex. Alex, this is Shizuka." Izumi introduced each other.

"Nice to meet you." Shizuka offered her hand.

"Charmed." Alexander smiled as he shook her hand.

"Will everyone please be quiet?" Rebecca shouted from her pedestal and the class quieted down, "Thank you. As you all know, the promotion exam is next week. I know some of you are probably not confident in this exam and you're probably thinking if I failed, I will be kicked out of Duel Academy just because I didn't study hard enough or duel enough. Well that's your own fault."

The students sweat-dropped at the small instructor's comments. Izumi sweat-dropped, "That's not very reassuring…"

Shizuka laughed nervously, "That's just how she is but she's really nice."

Rebecca continued, "But I'm being very generous, decided to give you plenty opportunities to practice dueling which is why I'm combining second years and first years for the following week, so you can have practice duels with each other."

The students cheered.

"Settle down," Rebecca shouted, "Great, I'm sounding like an adult. I have to tell you that this year we have a far larger number of first years than second years, so there will be first years against first years." She grabbed a stack of papers, "I'll be shouting your name and you'll duel your assigned opponent in the gym." She started yelling names.

"A duel?" Izumi was worried, "I hope I succeed."

"Don't worry, just try your best." Shizuka assured her fear.

"Shizuka is right." Alexander put his hand on Izumi's shoulder, "it's just practice."

Izumi smiled, "Thanks guys," She looked at Kurai, _'But what about Yuki? He still doesn't have his deck.'  
_  
"Kurai Yuki!" Rebecca shouted his name.

Kurai didn't move from his position. He just stood there with his arms crossed.

Rebecca sighed, "Kurai Yuki, didn't you hear me?"

"Loud enough." Kurai replied boredly with his arms crossed and not making any movement.

"Well you're supposed to duel against Ra Yellow student, Radnor Cielo." Rebecca explained, "Do I make myself clear?"

"Clear as crystal." Kurai replied.

"Then why are you not moving?" Rebecca questioned.

"Because I'm not dueling." Kurai responded.

Rebecca twitched slightly, _'cocky rude brat.'_ Rebecca explained, "I'm afraid you're not in position to refuse."

Kurai looked at the tiny instructor, "Perhaps you didn't listen to me. I said I'm not dueling."

Rebecca frowned.

"Instructor," Izumi was about to explain.

"Oh? Is it because you defeat Domon, all the Ra Yellow duelists are not good enough for you?" Tsubaki taunted, "I bet you even think that we Osiris Red are not even worth a challenge."

Kurai glanced at Tsubaki and glared.

Izumi gasped, "Tsubaki! That was a mean thing to say!"

"Shut up, Izumi!" Tsubaki glared back at Kurai, "You know I'm right. Yuki here is an arrogant prick. He only wanted to fight strong opponents and ignore us like we're trash!" He narrowed his eyes, _'I admire him..yeah right...I hate him…I hate that a cold guy like him gets away with winning…that's just not fair!' _Tsubaki gritted his teeth, "That's why I hate you! You think you're all that but you're not!"

_'…I see…so he's the one.'_ Kurai's frown slowly turned into smirk and then he started laughing. He laughed mockingly at Tsubaki.

Tsubaki narrowed his eyes, "What's so funny?"

"You're pathetic and I hate pathetic." Kurai's eyes became a deadly cold glare, "At least I don't resort to underhanded tricks to defeat my opponents."

Tsubaki realized what he said, _'He knew…he knew I stole his deck,'_ He yelled, "SHUT UP!"

"If you don't like it so much, why don't you face me? Or are you some big coward?" Kurai smirked.

"Yuki!" Izumi looked at Kurai and then she looked back at Tsubaki.

The word "coward" repeated in Tsubaki's mind. He looked down with his eyes covered in shadow. He looked up at Kurai with intense fury in his eyes, "I'm not a coward! I bet I can beat you and that will teach you to look down on me!"

"Really?" Kurai smirked, "Why don't you fight my opponent, if you think you're good enough?"

"Fine!" Tsubaki looked at Rebecca, "Instructor, let me take over his spot!"

Rebecca twitched because she knew what Kurai was planning, "Oh whatever, do what you want." She yelled, "Where's Radnor Cielo?"

A Ra Yellow student replied, "Um….he's not here."

Rebecca asked, "Again?" She smacked her head, "I don't care if he's the number one 1st year Ra Yellow duelist. He cannot skip the practice duels. Where is he then?"

Shizuka suggested, "Well, he's probably lost."

Rebecca's forehead vein twitched, "This is how people my age act? Look if Radnor doesn't get here in five seconds, he will lose the match by forfeit and gets detention."

"But it's just practice duel." Alexander pointed out as he smiled.

Rebecca looked at him, "There's something about you that I don't like…"

Alexander smiled, "How lovely."

"Never mind." Rebecca ignored him, "If he doesn't come here soon, I'll just have to assign another opponent."

Suddenly a wild lion with a Ra Yellow rider broke through the classroom window and landed near Rebecca, "Sorry, I'm late instructor! I took a wrong turn."

Rebecca was shocked, "W-w-why is there a lion here?" She sighed, "You know what. I seen stranger things, so never mind." She glanced at Tsubaki, "He's here."

Tsubaki blinked and yelled, "That crazy guy is my opponent?"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "That lion….."

Kurai just sat in his desk, "Hot headed idiots are so easy to manipulate." He's extremely glad that he's not fighting the crazy duelist.

Izumi looked at Kurai, "…..You are so mean…."

Radnor smiled, "I'm Radnor but you call me Rad! Nice to meet you, Yuki! I heard all about your duel with Domon!"

Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched and he yelled, "I'm not Yuki! I'm Tsubaki!" He took out Yuki's deck, _'Uh…this is not mine…but….' _He looked down as he quickly put it back and took out his own deck, _'this is not mine…too…'_

Rad noticed Tsubaki's sad expression, _'This guy…I wonder why he's so upset…'_

Tsubaki inserted his deck into the duel disk, "I'll be dueling you."

"I see. I hope we have a good duel." Rad smiled calmly.

* * *

Few minutes later, students were dueling each other on the arenas.

Tsubaki, who was still at mad at Kurai, yelled, "I'll go first! Draw!" He drew his card and quickly grabbed a card without looking at his hand, "I summon Ruby Gem Dragon!" [**M1(4/1900/1200)**] He slammed his card vertically on the Duel disk and suddenly a beautiful and scary creature came out. The Ruby Gem Dragon had red wingless lizard-like body with ruby scales and two long serpentine tails with ruby gem at the tips. On the top of its body contained many red crystals and two thick beautiful ruby crystals on its shoulders. The dragon's head contained two horns made out of ruby and shaped like jets of flame, "Your move!"

Rad closed his eyes and grinned as he drew his card, "Impatience leads to foolish judgment. I put one card face-down!" He stuck his card in the M/T slot and selected another card from his Hand, "I summon Steamroid!" [**M2(4/1800/1800)**] Suddenly, a train whistle was heard as a steam locomotive with red shed came to the field. The steam locomotive stood vertically with eyes on the front and mouth below and wheels as its arms.

"What the hell?" Tsubaki commented as he gaped at this strange sight.

"Steamroid, attack his Ruby Gem Dragon!" The locomotive released steam from his funnel and charged on its wheels toward the dragon monster.

"Are you crazy?" Tsubaki yelled, "Never mind, don't answer that. My monster still has a higher ATK power!"

"Correct but it has an effect," Rad explained, "When it attack your monster, it increase its attack strength by 500!" The train blew his whistle numerous times, increasing his ATK 1800 to 2300. The tracks were laid and the dragon was on its path. The train charged on and crushed the dragon.

Tsubaki: 4000 – 400 = 3600. Rad: 4000.

As the dragon shattered to pieces, his giant ruby crystal was left behind on the Field.

"When my Ruby Gem Dragon goes to the Graveyard," Tsubaki discarded his card to the Graveyard, "I can special summon a Ruby Gem Pup Token!" [**Token(1/100/100)**] The ruby crystal cracked and revealed an adorable baby dragon with tiny ruby crystals on its back.

"Cute. I end my turn." Rad was finished.

"Draw!" Tsubaki drew his card and snatched his card furiously from his hand, "I summon Emerald Gem Dragon!" [**M3(4/1800/1300)**] Suddenly another ferocious monster arrived on the field. It had green lizard-like body with scales made of green gems and wings made out of beautiful Olivine gem stone. It contained a fox-like tail made out of gems and its dragon-like head contained two long horns made of green gem, "Then I play a magic card, Ruby Destruct!" [**S1**] The magic card showed up on the field with a picture of a ruby with an obvious crack and was glowing dangerously, "By destroying Ruby Gem Pup token, I can deal 1000 damage to you!" The baby dragon suddenly jumped high and glowed brightly red. It dived toward Rad with a rocky explosion.

Tsubaki: 3600. Rad: 4000 – 1000 = 3000.

"I place one card face down and end my turn!" Tsubaki declared.

"Pity," Rad's face was serious as he drew his card, "Didn't you know you could destroy my Steamroid?"

Tsubaki countered, "And let my monster get destroyed? No thank you, I'm not stupid!"

"Really, you seemed like one," Rad countered back.

Tsubaki glared.

"My Steamroid may seem like a powerful but it has its drawback," Rad explained, "If you attack my Steamroid, its ATK will decrease by 500 but you're too late. I summon Gyroid!" [**M4(3/1000/1000)**] A cartoon blue plane flied to the field with eyes on the front and helicopter wings on the top, "I order Steamroid to attack your monster!" The train blew his whistle as its ATK strength increase from 1800 to 2300. The train chugged toward the green gem dragon and destroyed it.

Tsubaki: 3600 – 500 = 3100. Rad: 3000.

"Now I order Gyroid to attack you directly!" Rad ordered.

Tsubaki's eyes widened as he heard the words of attacking him directly. He shouted, "Not so fast! When my Emerald Gem Dragon goes to the Graveyard, I can special summon Emerald Gem Pup Token!" [**Token(1/100/100)**] The wing that was left by the green gem dragon suddenly hatched into adorable green baby dragon with small lime green crystals.

"Heh but that token only has 100 defense! Gyroid, destroy it!" Rad ordered again.

'_Damnit…should I let my Emerald token get destroyed by that weird cartoon robot? Or…should I use it to destroy that face-down card?'_ Tsubaki then decided, "I play my face-down card! Gem Cyclone!" [**S2**] His face-down card revealed a picture of a powerful cyclone sucking up different colored gems, "By destroying one Gem token, I can destroy one of my opponent's face-down magic/trap cards! I'll destroy that one!" He pointed to the only face-down card on Rad's field. The baby dragon glowed green as it charged at the face-down card and exploded.

The trap card flipped up, revealing an image of Patroid driving through the city with sirens on, and shattered into pieces as it was destroyed. Rad placed his card in the Graveyard, "You have destroyed my trap card, Robo Siren but that doesn't stop me from a direct attack!" Gyroid flew straight toward Tsubaki and gave him a strong headbutt in his chest, causing the Osiris Red to fell on his back.

Tsubaki: 3100 – 1000 = 2100. Rad: 3000.

Rad smiled, "I place one card face-down and then I end my turn."

"Another card face-down?" Tsubaki wasn't sure if he should attack or not, "Draw!" Tsubaki drew his card and narrowed his eyes at Rad's smile, _'Damn him, look at him. He's like he's taunting me!'_ He placed another card, "I summon Sapphire Gem Dragon in attack mode!" [**M5(4/1700/1400)**] An ocean-blue lizard-like dragon came to the field. This time it had thin blue sapphire crystals on its spine in a straight line all the way to its serpentine tail. The dragon's head contained two neatly spiraled horns made out of blue crystals, "Sapphire Gem Dragon, attack Steamroid!" The Sapphire Gem Dragon roared and dashed across the field. It turned itself into a wheel and destroyed Steamroid with gem spikes on its spine. Due to Steamroid's drawback, his ATK decrease from 1800 to 1300.

Tsubaki: 2100. Rad: 3000 – 400 = 2600.

"I'm done!" Tsubaki yelled.

Rad just smiled as he drew his card, "Draw!" He smirked as he looked at his hand.

Tsubaki glared, "Whatcha smiling about?"

"Haven't you learned by now?" Rad asked.

"Learn what?" Tsubaki asked annoyingly as his hand was clenching his cards tightly.

"I guess I'll just have to show you." He planned to use all the cards in his hand, "I summon E-Hero Featherman!" [**M6(3/1000/1000)**] A tall muscular warrior flied to the Field. He was dressed in green and gray superhero costume with talons on his feet and white feathered wings. He wore a tall furry green helmet with eyes protection but left his mouth bare, "I play a Magic Card, Sidekick Summoning!" [**S3**] The Magic card appeared on the field with an image of many sidekicks doing their justice poses, "With this card, I can pay 100 Life Points and special summon E-SKIK Wing Boy!" [**M7(2/500/400)**] A small child-like warrior came out to the field in his green and gray costume with two small white wings and a heroic green tiny cape. He looked at Featherman and gave him a thumb-up. His initial ATK/DEF increased from 500/400 to 1000/900.

Tsubaki: 2100. Rad: 2600 – 100 = 2500.

Rad smiled, "Cool monsters, huh?"

Tsubaki just blinked, "You have Roid monster, E-Hero monster, and…E-SKIK? What the hell?"

Rad smirked, "I played my last card, Polymerization. [**S4**] I fuse my E-SKIK Wind Boy and Gyroid to create E-SKIK Turbo Wing Boy!" The child warrior and the plane vanished into the swirling circle and then came out the same plane but with battle eyes and the Wing Boy riding in its cockpit. [**M8(4/1500/1400)**] "Since E-Hero Featherman is on the field, it gained a 500 ATK/DEF boost." The Turbo Wing Boy's ATK/DEF increased to 2000/1900, "And since you had a Water-Type Monster on the field, I can attack you directly!" The Wing Boy suddenly flied the plane forward with loud whirring sound. The hatch under the plane opened and a machine gun came out. The Wing Boy pressed the trigger and fired numerous feather bullets that struck Tsubaki.

Tsubaki: 2100 – 2000 = 100. Rad: 2500.

* * *

At Duel Academia, at the bottom of the cliff, two Osiris Red students were dueling each other.

Shou screamed as he was blown away from E-Hero Featherman's attack.

Judai placed his card in the M/T slot, "I place one card face down, and end my turn." The card appeared behind E-Hero Featherman and E-Hero Sparkman.

Sho laughed nervously as he was putting a fake smile despite his worries, "It's pretty cruel of you to get all serious so suddenly, aniki."

On top of the cliff, Asuka was observing, "Has he lost his will to fight already?"

Hayato was watching too. He gritted his teeth as he couldn't take it anymore with Sho's weakness, "Get it together!" He grabbed Sho's attention, "If you're getting depressed over stuff like that, you'll look even worse than a first-year repeater like me!"

Sho was stunned, "Hayato-kun…"

Hayato continued shouting, "Pull it together! Pull it together, Sho!"

"A guy like him, who never yells, is cheering for me as hard as he can…" Sho was touched. He clenched his fists on the soil, _'I have to fulfill…his expectations!' _Sho stood back up with determination in his eyes, "It's my turn!"

Asuka smiled slightly as she averted her eyes from Sho to Hayato, "Looks like your cheering got him his motivation back, Hayato-kun."

"Eh?" Hayato was surprised by Asuka's comment but then smiled, "Since I'm hopeless, I think I understand how others who get to be hopeless feel."

Asuka countered, "I'm pretty sure you can understand how others feel because you're not the useless individual you think you are." She looked back at the duel.

Hayato blushed slightly from Asuka's compliment, "G-go figure…" He looked back at the duel.

* * *

Back inside the dueling courts of South Duel Academy.

Tsubaki groaned as he fell on his knees. He couldn't believe his eyes, _'Damnit…I'm losing again…if I have my original deck…if only if I have my original deck! I would never have lost…what's so…wrong with me being a winner? How come a cold prick like Yuki get to be a winner but I can't? Damnit…damnit…I hate him because he reminded me of me…'_

* * *

Many years ago, in one of many cities located in the southern USA.

"Ahhhhhh!" A pale-skinned man with short slimy gray hair and oval-shaped glasses suddenly fell down roughly on a wet alley. He groaned as he tried to get up, "What the hell did you think you doing?" He received another smack from a bat, "AHHH!" He fell down again.

A red-haired boy was holding a bat, "Heh, I heard you're a top designer from that Duel monsters company, Frantz or something like that."

Frantz held his wounded face, "What do you want with me, brat!" He watched the red-haired boy smacked Frantz's metallic case opened

"I like Duel Monsters…but I'm too poor to buy one…so I thought of something great…" The red-haired boy smirked, "Why not steal cards from top designer…?" He noticed a folder with a large red print that said Rejected, "What's this?"

"Don't touch those! Those are mine!" Frantz tried to get him back but that only earned him another smack that rendered him unconscious.

The red-haired boy dropped his bat as he picked up the cards from a folder, "Heh, these are mine now…!"

* * *

Tsubaki closed his eyes, _'I was really a bastard back then…I stole banned rejected cards from an old geezer of Industrial Illusions…I was trying to be cool like him…the guy I admired so much...but he went missing ever since the orphanage burned down…so I thought…if I do the same thing as him…he'll find me…'_

* * *

"Ahhhhhhhh!" A random gangster suddenly fell on his back from a powerful attack of a hologram, "Too strong…that was too strong…." He fell unconscious.

The red haired boy laughed as he turned off his duel disk, "Another win for me…all of them…they're just weak…Soon, I'm going to be strong just like him…"

* * *

'_I was literally blinded with power…I thought if I kept winning…he'll find me, right? That's what I wanted…so strength was everything to me…man, I was really cold…I was really arrogant…I claimed myself as a top duelist with that deck I stole…I was messed up kid…'_

A red haired boy was running down that alleyway, panting like crazy. His heavy gasps for breath indicated that he was running for a long time. He suddenly tripped, "Ah!"

Older gangsters caught up to him. One of them kicked the boy while he's down, "You think you're hot shot like a pro duelist?"

The second gangster kicked him in the chest, "Just because you beat your our boss in a duel, we're going to respect you?"

Another one kicked the boy, "You're just some lousy kid with the luck of the devil!"

* * *

'_Luck of the devil…that punk got that right…my strong deck…it's like holding the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge…of course, I then knew why the cards were rejected…but I didn't realize that until I was separated from my deck after I was sent to juvie center.'_

* * *

Inside juvenile prison, two security guards were escorting an important visitor down the dark hallway between walls filled with cells occupied by teenage inmates. They finally reached a cell where the inmate was sleeping alone. The security guard clanged the bars with his baton, "Hey, kid, wake up. You got visitor."

A red haired boy removed the gray blanket and slowly sat up to look at the visitor, "…who?"

The important visitor smiled, "Why, good morning, Tsubaki-boy."

* * *

'_There…I met a savior…he introduced me to a good family in New York…I never got my deck back…so he lend me one…but…it wasn't mine…according to my savior…I'm holding this deck until the right person come along…I was jealous…I want to prove that I can use that rare deck well…but…I never won with it…I only barely won against the Duel Academy examiner with a test deck I asked to borrow…' _Tsubaki looked at his deck, "You guys don't think I'm good enough to use you, huh?"

"Are you done yet?" Rad broke Tsubaki's thoughts.

Tsubaki looked up, "Done with what?"

"Feeling bad about yourself," Rad pointed to Tsubaki, "as long as you kept feeling that, your deck is never going to help you. Have you learn enough already?" Rad asked with a serious expression on his face, "That dueling is not about winning or taking revenge," He smiled, "Dueling is about fun!"

Tsubaki didn't answer. He just closed his eyes as he remembered many years ago, he used to have so much fun playing with others in the orphanage, _'He's right…I'm letting my own darkness get best of me….This duel is not even a life-and-death situation…..It's supposed to be fun…..and to think I did all the dirty tricks to Yuki…..No more.'_ He slowly opened his eyes and smirked, "You're going down!"

"Draw!" Tsubaki drew his card high, _'From this point forward, I will change.'_ His drawn glowed slightly golden, "Eh?" He looked at the card he drew, _'This card…I never seen this card before…I see…it's not that you guys don't think I'm good enough…you were waiting for me…to believe in myself, huh…? I'll show you…I'll show him…I'll show Yuki…I'm going to become stronger with my own hands!' _He looked at his hand and grabbed two cards, "I placed two cards face-down!" He puts his two first M/T cards on the Duel Disk, "Now Sapphire Gem Dragon, attack E-Hero Featherman!" Tsubaki thought to himself, _'I have to reduce his Wing Boy's ATK first.' _The Sapphire Gem Dragon charged across the Field and flipped into a spiked wheel that was heading toward Featherman in attack mode.

Rad quickly pressed the button on his Duel Disk, "I activate my face-down card, Heroes' Teamwork!" [**T1**] The trap card revealed itself and showed a picture of E-Hero Featherman and E-SKIK Wing Boy working side by side, "When my E-Hero monster get attacked, I get to increases my E-Hero Featherman's ATK by the original ATK of Wing Boy which is 1500 and then I resume battle!" The E-Hero Featherman glows a green light sent by Turbo Wing Boy. His ATK increased from 1000 to 2500. The Featherman was about to deliver a punch combined with wind at the Sapphire Gem Dragon.

Tsubaki yelled, "I won't let you do that! If I can't weaken Wing Boy, then I'll have to increase my Life Points! I play a quick-spell card, Mystik Wok!" [**S5**] He quickly played a magic card that had picture of a chef cooking with a giant Chinese pan, "I sacrifice my Sapphire Gem Dragon and increase my Lifepoints by its ATK!" The giant pan appeared below the dragon. There was a huge burst of fire and the dragon was turned into a charred meat. The meat dissolved into energy that traveled to Tsubaki.

Tsubaki: 100 + 1700 = 1800. Rad: 2500.

Tsubaki continued, "And when Sapphire Gem Dragon goes to the grave, I can special summon Sapphire Gem Pup Token!" [**Token(1/100/100)] **The blue Sapphire that was left behind hatched into a blue baby dragon with tiny sapphire crystals on its back, "I end my turn!"

Rad drew his card and ordered, "Because your token is water type, I can attack you directly! Turbo Wing Boy!" The plane flied forward and a machine gun came out. The Wing Boy pressed the trigger and fired feather bullets but it dissolved before it even came close to Tsubaki.

Tsubaki yelled, "I activate my face-down card, Negate Attack!" [**T2**] The trap card revealed, showing a picture of red and blue and white color swirled together, "I end your battle phase and protects my Life Points."

Rad smiled, "I see you're finally serious." He inserted one card in the M/T slot, "I place one face-down card and I end my turn."

"Draw!" Tsubaki drew his card and narrowed his eyes, "This is the end!" He smiled cockily, "I play my face-down card, Rock Bombardment!" [**T3**] His trap card shows a castle being under attacks by falling rocks, "I choose Topaz Gem Dragon from my deck!" [**M9(4/1600/1500)**] Suddenly a giant catapult appeared on the field next to Tsubaki. A brown lizard-like dragon with a small tail and a shell filled with thick yellow topaz crystals. He had two thick yellow gem horns fitting for ramming. He appeared on the catapult's bowl. The catapult suddenly tossed the dragon at Rad, sending showers of crystals.

Tsubaki: 1800. Rad: 2500 – 500 = 2000.

"Because my Topaz Gem Dragon goes to the Graveyard, I can special summon Topaz Gem Pup Token!" Tsubaki shouted as the yellow crystal hatched into a small chubby brown baby dragon with onyx crystals as its shell. Tsubaki snatched one card from his hand, "Now I sacrifice two tokens to normal summon my strongest card, Gratia Gem Dragon!" [**M10(8/2700/2200)**] A magnificent sight befell everyone's eyes on the stage. A giant white dragon soared from Tsubaki's Duel Disk. Its powerful dragon body and thick long tail was made out of scales of white pure diamonds. Its chest area was covered by thick plate of shining black obsidian crystal. It contained two magnificent white diamond wings with inner obsidian coverings and golden-color skeletal structure. On the dragon's spine contained red crystallized scales in straight line all the way to the end of the tail. Its claws and horns were golden yellow and its sharp fangs were clear blue diamonds. The dragon stood tall as two stories high.

"Due to his effect, he gains an ATK increase of 300 for each rock type on the Field." Tsubaki explained as the mighty crystal dragon roared and increased his ATK from 2700 to 3000.

Tsubaki yelled, "Now Gratia Gem Dragon, attack Turbo Wing Boy with Prism Breath!" The dragon roared as he fired a rainbow beam from his mouth toward the Turbo Wing Boy.

"Woah, that is really cool monster!" Rad exclaimed, "But sorry." He pressed a button and revealed a trap card that had a picture of two colored cylinders.

Tsubaki's eyes widened in shock, "Magic Cylinder." [**T4**]

Two colorful cylinders appeared on Turbo Wing Boy's sides. The rainbow breath entered one cylinder and went through the other cylinder, heading toward Tsubaki and created a giant colorful explosion.

Tsubaki: 1800 – 3000 = 0. Rad: 2000.

The holograms disappeared and Tsubaki was on his knees.

"That was a fun duel." Rad smiled as he offered his hand to Tsubaki.

Tsubaki grinned and took his hand, "Yeah, you're right."

Izumi rushed in, "What did I miss? Aww, I missed the entire battle!"

Tsubaki laughed, "Yeah, you did and too bad, it was really cool!"

Izumi was surprised at Tsubaki's laughter, "Tsubaki…" Her eyes wavered, "You're back to normal!"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Oh come on, I'm not that bad, am I?" He smiled, "Sorry, if I was rude…but right now, I need to fix something."

* * *

In Osiris Red dorm, Kurai was just lying on his bed and reading his book.

Tsubaki came back to the dorm, "Hey! Did you get to see my match?"

Kurai replied instantly, "No."

Tsubaki's forehead vein throbbed but he ignored it, "I see…You could have seen it, it was an awesome match!"

Kurai replied immediately, "I heard you lost. Big deal."

Tsubaki's second forehead vein twitched, "…..Arrogant jerk…." He sighed as he slammed the deck down.

Kurai lifted his book and saw his deck lying next to him.

"One day, I will make you see me as your rival. I'm not going to use dirty tricks anymore!" Tsubaki declared as he crossed his arms.

Kurai stared at him with a bored look. He went back to his reading, "Whatever."

Tsubaki's third vein twitched as he gritted his teeth.

Kurai continued, "I have no time to play with dogs."

Tsubaki exploded, "Dog? Why you?"

Suddenly there were few minutes of yelling and crashes and bangs.

"Hi guys!" Izumi greeted as she opened the door.

SPLATTER!

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Opps…" He was holding a paint bucket from last time.

Kurai just stood silent but a tiny sweat-drop appeared on his face.

Izumi's face was completely soaked in paint and suddenly red demonic eyes appeared on her face.

"BOYSSSSSSSSS!"

Her rage was heard throughout the entire island.

**

* * *

TBC**

**Tsubaki smirked: **Am I cool or what? Along with my trump card!

**Izumi: **Uh huh and you still lost.

**Tsubaki: **Oh shut up! I'll win next time when I get my chance to duel!

**Izumi: **Speak of the devil, you get to duel next episode!

**Tsubaki: **Eh? Already?

**Izumi: **Of course, you have to train first!

**Next Episode: Episode 7 – ZAM! Intense Training!**

**Tsubaki:**…ZAM?

**Izumi smiled: **Work hard, Tsubaki!

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Duel: E-SKIK Turbo Wing Boy**

**Alexander: **Today's strongest card is E-SKIK Turbo Wing Boy. It's not very powerful Lv. 4 monster but it's capable of delivering a strong direct attack.

**Izumi: **E-SKIK, E-Hero, and then there's E-Merc…..there's certainly lot of monsters with E in it, huh? I wonder what it means.

**Alexander: **Eh, Izumi? You didn't know what E means? What a surprise.

**Izumi: **Hey! I just don't know a lot about duel monsters alright. So you know what E is?

**Alexander smiled: **Of course, I do know what E is, would you like me to tell?

**Izumi: **Of course! What is it?

**Alexander: **It is….

**Izumi: **It is…?

**Alexander whispered: **Exotic.

**Izumi: **Exotic!

**Alexander smiled: **Why do you think they have weird names for? Exotic stars don't use their names too but street names. So…that means…

**Izumi: **Yuki use exotic monsters….so…he's some kinda strange pervert? NOOOOOO!

**Alexander smiled: **Of course, I was joking.

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Ruby Gem Dragon – Fire/Rock/4/1900/1200**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Ruby Gem Pup Token] (Fire/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M2 - ****Steamroid: Earth/Machine/4/1800/1800**: Effect: If this card attack your opponent's monster, increase the attack of this card by 500 points during the damage step only. If this card is attacked by your opponent's monster, decrease the attack of this card by 500 points during the damage step only.

**M3 - ****Emerald Gem Dragon – Wind/Rock/4/1800/1300**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Emerald Gem Pup Token] (Wind/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field. You may sacrifice this token to destroy one magic or trap card on the field.

**M4 – ****Gyroid: Wind/Machine/3/1000/1000**: Once per turn, if this card would be destroyed as a result of battle, it isn't destroyed. (Damage calculation is applied normally)

**M5 - ****Sapphire Gem Dragon: Water/Rock/4/1700/1400**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Sapphire Gem Pup Token] (Water/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M6 - ****E-Hero Featherman: Wind/Warrior/3/1000/1000**

**M7 - ****E-SKIK Wing Boy: Wind/Warrior/2/500/400**: Effect: When there's [E-Hero Featherman] on your Field, this card increase its ATK/DEF by 500.

**M8 - ****E-SKIK Turbo Wing Boy: Wind/Warrior – Fusion/4/1500/1400**: Effect: When there's [E-Hero Featherman] on your Field, this card increase its ATK/DEF by 500. If your opponent only has Water, Fire, and Wind Main-Type monsters on the Field, you can attack your opponent directly.

**M9 - ****Topaz Gem Dragon: Earth/Rock/4/1600/1500**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Topaz Gem Pup Token] (Earth/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field. You may sacrifice this token to destroy one monster card on the Field.

**M10 - ****Gratia Gem Dragon: Light/Rock/7/2700/2200**: Effect: Increase this card's ATK by 300 for each Rock type Monster on all Fields. For each Monster that this card destroys and send it to the Graveyard as a result of Battle, do 300 points of damage to your opponent.

**S1 – ****Ruby Destruct – Quick-play Spell**: Destroy one Ruby Gem Pup Token on your side of field. Inflict 1000 damage to your opponent.

**S2 – ****Gem Cyclone – Quick-play Spell**: Destroy one [Gem Pup] Token on your side of the field. Destroy 1 Spell or Trap card on the Field.

**S3 - ****Sidekick Summoning – Continuous Magic**: At the cost 100 LP, you can special summon 1 monster with [E-SKIK] in its name from your Hand per turn.

**S4 - ****Polymerization – Normal Magic**: Fuses 2 or more Fusion-Material Monsters to form a new Fusion Monster.

**S5 – ****Mystik Wok – Quick-play Spell**: Tribute 1 monster. Select either its ATK or DEF and gain that many Life Points.

**T1 - ****Heroes' Teamwork – Continuous Trap**: When a monster with [E-Hero] in its name was selected as an Attack target, increase this monster's ATK/DEF by the original ATK/DEF of the respective [E-SKIK] monster on the Field during the Battle Phase. Afterwards, continue the battle.

**T2 - ****Negate Attack – Trap**: Activate when your opponent attacks, negate that attack and end your opponent's battle phase.

**T3 - ****Rock Bombardment – Trap**: Choose 1 Rock Sub-Type Monster from your deck and send it to the Graveyard. Do 500 damage to your opponent's Life Points. Afterward, shuffle your deck.

**T4 -**** Magic Cylinder – Trap**: Negate the attack of 1 of your opponent's monsters. Do damage to your opponent equal to the attack strength of that monster.


	12. 7A: ZAM! Intense Training!

**Author's Note: **I'm not sure if I should say this is filler episode but it does help Tsubaki develop further, so you could say this is the second-parter of Tsubaki's mini arc lol. But man, after this chapter, I'm almost 20,000 words away from reaching 100,000 words mark. I wonder if I wrote too much for one chapter and steering future reviewers away because of it.

Oh, and I want to give a huge thanks to **Lux-Nero** for creating this filler character! If you like this character, check out more of his creations in **Shadowchasers: Risen Nemesis **in 5Ds. If you would like to help, you can submit characters for filler episodes or possible future lackeys or strong baddies in the far future. I won't be able to use them till episode 17.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX and credit goes to GLL99 for subs of Yugioh GX episode 8.

**

* * *

Chapter 7: ZAM! Intense training!**

Few days had passed since the stolen deck incident and Tsubaki's duel with Rad, one of greatest duelists of Ra Yellow grade. After losing his battle to the Ra Yellow duelist, the hot-headed Osiris Red Duelist came to realize that he won't be able to win if he continues to waste time on jealously or dirty tricks. No, he had to find a way to get stronger or else…

"AH!" An explosion blew the poor little red-haired boy, causing him to land face down on the dirty streets of New York. The little boy's golden yellow eyes wavered as he was hurt and his pride wounded. He could hear the duel disk system on his left arm winding down, indicating that the duel was over and he had lost. The little boy stifled as he tried really hard to hold back his tears.

"Oh come on, don't be such a cry baby!" A young voice chided the boy.

The boy looked back to face another boy who was his opponent and couple of years older than him and looked like he was about to become a teenager from the look of the frame of his body. The boy couldn't see him entirely but he could see his clear teal-colored eyes looking down on him.

The opponent continued, "If you're going to waste time crying, don't even bother be a duelist."

The boy stopped sniffling and narrowed his yellow eyes. He frowned as he abruptly stood up, "I want to be a duelist! I'm not going to stop be a duelist! Because…I want to be strong!"

The opponent closed his teal eyes and laughed, making the little boy confused. The little boy was unsure that his opponent was mad at him or laughing at him. The opponent stopped laughing and smirked, "Alright, if you have the desire to be strong and maybe the confidence to win, you…maybe have a little tiny bit of a chance to win against me."

The boy growled, showing his single fang on his teeth, "Not a little tiny bit! I'll definitely win against you! I will!"

"Heh, if you can catch up with me." The opponent smirked as his shadow appeared to cross his arms.

The boy pouted like a little kid, "I will! I'll definitely will!"

The opponent laughed as the boy amused him. He just walked past him not before he ruffled the boy's spiky hair, making the boy's hair messier, "Come on, we're going back to the church."

"…I will…" The boy quickly followed after the older boy.

* * *

"I will…" Tsubaki mumbled in his sleep. He was sleep-talking as he was having a dream about his past. Suddenly, no air was entering through his mouth or nose. Tsubaki couldn't notice because he was dead asleep. After a while, when no air entered his lungs, a terrible pain assaulted his chest, causing him to wake up. He yelled, "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" He spat out something heavy and metallic out of his mouth, finally allowing air to enter his lungs. He panted as he breathed in more air. He noticed that his nose was blocked and immediately pulled out two rolled up tore tissues and let air enter. Once he calmed down, he noticed at the metallic object and saw that it was an alarm clock. Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched as he recognized the item and whom it belonged to. He eyes became narrowly slit out of anger and he inched his head toward the other bed on the opposite side of the room. The bed was occupied by a cold Osiris Red Duelist, Kurai Yuki, who was sleeping with his head facing the wall. Tsubaki called out in accused tone, "Yuki?" He didn't even bother to ask the question, knowing that Kurai was smart enough to know the question.

"You were too noisy," Kurai answered blatantly with his eyes still closed, "I need quiet."

"Ah." Tsubaki replied calmly. There was a few seconds of comfortable silence with morning birds singing and ocean fishes splashing. Tsubaki snapped with red angry eyes and demonic teeth, "Do you have to kill me for that?"

Kurai twitched as it became noisier, "Shut up."

Tsubaki's forehead veins twitching increased every second. He looked down with his eyes hidden in shadow, "Yuki." He said his name with ominous tone.

Kurai twitched even more, "Will you be quiet already?" He sat up abruptly on his bed to give Tsubaki threatening glare. His eyes immediately widened and his mouth gaped open as he saw a black human shadow with red demon eyes and dragon teeth falling toward him from with the ceiling with his claws a high. Kurai nearly screamed, "Ah…"

Suddenly, their hut was filled with noises of crashes, punches, screams, and any other random noises of fight. Outside their hut, Izumi was humming happily to herself as she grew accustomed to the random fighting noises from Tsubaki and Kurai's hut. She was humming because it was a beautiful morning and nothing would really shock her. Her eyes were closed as she touched the doorknob and opened it without permission, "Good morning!" She declared. She opened her eyes and suddenly, she turned ghostly white with dotty eyes and gaping mouth as she witnessed something very shocking.

Tsubaki was lying on Kurai's bed face down. He was only dressed in his boxers since he claimed to normally sleep that way. He was tied up in ropes. Meanwhile, Kurai, who was also only dressed in boxer, was standing on top of Tsubaki with one knee and one foot because he was holding the end of the rope tied around Tsubaki. His shirt was loosely discarded on the floor.

Izumi gaped as she immediately had the wrong idea.

Tsubaki blushed out of embarrassment while Kurai was twitching.

Izumi's face turned beet red and she quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to intrude!" She shut the door roughly and she looked toward the ocean, her back facing the door. Her entire body became beet red and Izumi commented, "I never knew they swing that way…and into that sort of stuff…"

"It's not like that!" Tsubaki, who somehow overheard, snapped. His loud voice nearly blew Izumi away.

Izumi sweat-dropped out of embarrassment, "Ah…"

* * *

Couple of minutes later, the trio was in the cafeteria zone of the main Osiris Red building. Alexander, as usual, came to join them for breakfast. Tsubaki explained everything that happened this morning to Izumi. And since Alexander didn't know what happened this morning, Izumi explained to him.

Alexander laughed as he found the whole morning incident hilarious.

Tsubaki blushed out of embarrassment, "Would you please stop laughing already? It's bad enough that I went through it and then you have to laugh about it."

Alexander chuckled, "I'm sorry…it's just incredibly hilarious…I imagined how shocked Izumi must be when she found you guys…in…such positions."

Tsubaki shuddered out of disgust and he complained, "Don't make it sound so dirty!"

Kurai gave Alexander the glare of death which message said "laugh more and I'll kill you." Since Alexander is a sadistic freak, he should know very well what the death glare means.

Alexander stifled as he tried to restrain more laughter.

Tsubaki blushed even more and he glared at Izumi as she was guilty, "Izumi! This is all your fault!"

Izumi sweat-dropped as she was taken aback, "Me, what the hell did I do?"

Tsubaki scolded, "You know what you do! You just have to overreact over that!"

Izumi sweat-dropped even more as she looked down out of embarrassment and guilt. She nervously chuckled, "Well…true…but you have to kinda understand from my point of view…I mean…you were on the bottom and he's on the top…..and who knows what you guys were doing with the rope?" She blushed as she laughed nervously.

Alexander put his hand under his chin as he smirked, "Hmm…Yuki, an aggressive top…and Tsubaki, a rebellious bottom…"

Izumi blushed as she laughed and patted Alexander's back, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Please don't make it worse for me! But I can imagine it…"

Tsubaki blushed entirely red but not of embarrassment but out of pure rage, "Arghhhh! We're not gay!" He stood up abruptly.

"Really? I never knew." A cheerful voice commented.

Tsubaki blinked in surprise and his anger subsiding, "That voice…" He immediately looked down and saw a familiar Ra Yellow student sitting at their table. He screamed, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! It's you!"

Rad smiled as he waved, "Yo! Tsubaki! I came all the way from the dorms to see you!"

Izumi smirked slyly as she joked, "Tsubaki is really popular among guys."

Tsubaki roared, "Stop it with the gay jokes, Izumi and you!" he pointed to Rad dramatically, "And what the hell do you mean you never knew?"

Rad replied, "Well…I always assume that you swung that way since your name means spring flower."

Tsubaki turned white as he was completely astounded by the stupidity of his answer. The chilling winds blew and Tsubaki remained frozen white.

Rad smiled, "Am I right, Izumi? Tsubaki means Spring Flower? I'm trying to learn Japanese."

Izumi nodded, "You're right…Tsubaki does mean spring flower…I wonder why I never realized it…"

Alexander smiled with his eyes closed, "I heard Tsubaki was commonly used name for Japanese women."

Izumi nodded in agreement, "So true…AH!" She pressed her fist on her hand as she remembered their first meeting with the fisherman, "That explains why that weird Fisherman assumed that Tsubaki was a mermaid."

Tsubaki was sulking in a corner with shadows over him, "It's not my fault that my parents picked that name…"

"HA! HA! HA!" The Narrator laughed out of embarrassment, "Sorry! Sorry! I was the one who picked that name. It just sound like a cool name, so I didn't really expect it to be a Japanese girl name."

Tsubaki snapped as he grabbed the Narrator roughly, "You're a horrible writer! I demand you change my name right now!"

The Narrator cried, "I can't! Beside it fits you anyway! Plus girls have male names and guys have female names sometimes!"

Tsubaki then averted his anger toward Kurai, "This is all of your fault! If you haven't try to kill me this morning…"

Kurai ignored Tsubaki as he just brushed him aside, "Not my fault that you sleep talk."

Tsubaki exasperated, "Only once! Once!"

Kurai rolled his eyes, "I need sleep."

Tsubaki's forehead veins twitched again as he clenched his fist so tight it shook. He yelled, "You're such a cold-hearted stiff bastard! Don't you have any friends?"

Kurai's amber eyes widened slightly but quickly narrowed it. He then stood up roughly and stormed off.

Izumi stood up and called out, "Yuki!"

Tsubaki frowned and scowled, "Hmph." He stormed off in the opposite direction.

Izumi looked toward Tsubaki and called out, "Tsubaki!" She noticed both guys were gone already. Her eyes began to quiver out of concerns, "How can this be?...We were getting along so well just now after that fight…"

Rad blinked out of confusion and asked, "You were?" Since he knew from Alex and Domon, that Kurai shared a cold relationship with them.

Izumi wailed, "Of course, we were! We were a trio! A three musketeers!"

Rad had a notion, "Ah! You mean like the Ojama trio!" Three weird colorful dancing monsters in underwear appeared in the background.

Izumi paled and looked down, "Rad…you compared us to those three?"

Alexander chuckled, "Don't worry, Izumi. Every good friend always fights. It's only natural. This incident will resolved by itself."

Izumi looked up at Alexander with teary eyes, "I hope so!"

* * *

Tsubaki was walking down the dirt road, his mind wandering aimlessly and not paying attention to the direction he was going now. His mind was filled with stuff from the stolen deck incident and the dream of the past he had. He sighed, _'Man, I still can't believe that I resort to dirty tricks like that…I let my jealousy went too far…so much for having the confidence to win…'_ He continued walking while in deep thoughts, _'Rad taught me that it is important to have fun during duels…and I should have known that…how much fun I had when I duel…but…I wanted to win…but in order to win…I need to get stronger myself…'_

He then realized that he was in some areas of the island that he was not familiar with. He panicked slightly, _'AH! Did I walk too far from the dorm areas? Where am I?'_ He glanced around until his ears caught something, _'running water?'_ He walked closer toward the noise and gasped quietly as he stepped into paradise. It's not really paradise but a crystal clear lake that pooled at the bottom of a large waterfall. He gaped, "Woah…never thought I would find this on an island like this."

Tsubaki then noticed a person sitting cross-legged on the top of the rock located right at the bottom of the waterfall. Tsubaki immediately thought, _'Is that person crazy? Sitting under a waterfall?'_ He took a closer look and saw that person was a girl and from Osiris Red except her uniform looked different from regular girl uniform with longer skirt and shorter sleeves. She wore long sleeved bandages around her arms and her legs. She had long dark blue hair tied up into a thin ponytail with bandage. Her face expressed total calm and composure. Tsubaki crossed his arms as he was slightly confused, "Is she meditating?" Suddenly, he noticed a long thick piece of log swimming down the waterfall and headed directly toward the girl. He shouted, "Watch out!"

The girl's eyes snapped wide open and she screamed, "ZAM!" She jumped high and punched the log, causing the wood to split into perfect halves.

Tsubaki's jawbone dropped, "?"

The girl noticed Tsubaki and suddenly tossed something, "ZAM!"

A chopstick shot right by Tsubaki, missing him by only few millimeters. Tsubaki paled as he slowly looked around just to see the chopstick embedded into the tree. Tsubaki gulped as he immediately judged the girl to be scary.

The girl blinked, "Oh, a classmate? Zam?"

Few minutes later, the girl was drying herself as she confirmed, "Your name is Tsubaki Ryozai? Zam?"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped as he thought to himself, _'What's with the zam at end of the sentence?'_ He asked, "What about your name little girl?"

The girl twitched, "Did you just call me little? ZAM!"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped even more, "Eh…I didn't mean to…Sorry…." He thought, _'I guess she doesn't like to be call short even though….she is short….'_

The girl crossed her arms, "That's fine as long as you don't call me short. If you do, I'll make fun of your name."

Tsubaki's sweat droplet became bigger as he agreed to her demand, _'Man, can people just leave my name alone?'_

The girl smiled, "The name is Yumi Ikazuchi! ZAM!"

Tsubaki had more sweat droplets, _'Again, what the hell with the Zam?'_ He asked, "What were you doing?"

"I was training. Zam!" Yumi answered.

"Training?" Tsubaki questioned.

Yumi nodded, "Training!" She smacked her chest, "It helped me focus on concentrate on dueling. It helped me focus on winning. Also helped me become stronger! ZAM!"

Tsubaki stood there in silence.

"Zam?" Yumi questioned his silence.

'_Training?'_ Tsubaki mused, _'She must have been some martial artist master if she actually destroyed that log…maybe…training will help me restore my confidence in dueling…'_ He asked, "Say…can I train? I want to get stronger too. I want to win too."

Yumi smirked, "Sure, I could use a sparring partner! ZAM!"

Tsubaki grinned, "Thanks!"

* * *

Couple of minutes later, Tsubaki wasn't really sure about training. He sweat-dropped, "Um no offense, Yumi, I don't see how is this going to help me train for dueling…" He was tied up to a stack of tires, indicating that he has to pull it.

Yumi smacked Tsubaki's head with a stick, "This will strengthen your muscles! ZAM!"

"Ouch!" Tsubaki rubbed his head.

Yumi ordered, "Now pull!"

Tsubaki frowned, "For a midget, you sure are bossy."

Yumi smacked him with a LOG.

Tsubaki screamed, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

* * *

Next training was at the waterfall, Yumi explained, "This will help you train your concentration! ZAM!"

Tsubaki tried to meditate under the waterfall. He cried, "It's frigging cold!"

Yumi roared, "Shut up!" She clenched her fist as she spoke dramatically, "Bracing the icy cold water helps you achieve enlightment! ZAM!"

Tsubaki mumbled, "Maybe, it's because sitting under the freezing waterfall this entire time is keeping you short."

Yumi stood there at the edge of the lake with silence. She walked away, eventually disappearing from Tsubaki's sight.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Did she overhear that?" Then he heard soft rumbling noises from above and he glanced up.

Yumi was on the top of cliff next to the waterfall, pushing logs into the water.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tsubaki screamed as he tried to avoid logs falling on him through the waterfall.

* * *

Next training was at the mountain right close by the waterfall, Yumi explained, "This will help you run faster. ZAM!"

Tsubaki screamed as he was running away from giant rolling boulder, "If I manage to live!"

Yumi smacked her head, "The idiot needs more training."

Tsubaki screamed even more as more boulders chased him down.

* * *

Next training was actually at poorly set-up Poker table, where Tsubaki was holding a hand of cards. He glanced down at his Hand and then he glanced at his opponents, which were fellow Osiris Red first years. He looked back at Yumi, "How is this training?"

Yumi smacked his head with a harisen. She then crossed her arms as she explained, "Playing Poker helps increases your luck in duel! ZAM!" She admitted, "Plus, I like Poker."

Tsubaki immediately fall down as reaction to her rather stupid answer.

* * *

Next training was at the lake with the waterfall again, Yumi explained, "This will help train your patience. Zam."

Tsubaki was holding a fishing rod over the lake, "…do I ever mention how much I hate fishes?"

The Fisherman appeared out of nowhere, "Hi there!"

Tsubaki suddenly kicked him flying, "What the hell are you doing here!"

The Fisherman sniffled as he was sent flying through the sky, "I just want to fish…is that so hard to ask?"

* * *

Meanwhile at the principal's office, Rebecca was twitching while holding stack of papers for the Principal to sign. She was staring at badly made sign at his desk that said "Gone fishing." She snapped, "That stupid old man!"

* * *

For couple of days, Tsubaki undergoes through intense training with the guidance of his fellow classmate, Yumi Ikazuchi. He may complain a lot but he still did it with the determination of being the duelist that people will respect including himself. As he sparred with Yumi, he managed to block few blows. As for meditating, he managed to withstand the cold of the waterfall as he tried to cleanse his dirty sins from his dirty tricks. He went through more weird trainings that Yumi thought of. Somewhere near the training area, a certain Osiris Red Duelist was standing on the top of the cliff, watching.

"Fancy meeting you here, Yuki." A familiar sadistic voice caught the cold duelist's ears.

Kurai remained staring down at Tsubaki's crazy training with Yumi. He didn't even give a single glance toward Alexander.

"It's quite a beautiful sight…isn't it? This enchanting waterfall." Alexander complimented.

Kurai knew that Alexander was avoided the subject on purpose just to tick him off. He asked, "Why is the idiot working so hard for?"

Alexander smiled, "The same reason as everyone, I guess."

"To win?" Kurai rolled his eyes.

Alexander smiled, "Yes…but I think it's more of earning your respect." He chuckled, "No matter how cold you are, those two people can't seem to stay away from you."

Kurai scoffed, "They're morons."

Alexander smirked, "Really? I thought they have excellent sense of judging characters."

Kurai was silent.

Alexander smiled as he watched Tsubaki trained too, "Why don't you come out too?"

Rad suddenly appeared out of a nearby tree upside down as he was hanging from a sturdy tree branch, "You noticed me? Very sharp, man."

Alexander chuckled, "I believe we never properly introduced ourselves. I'm Alexander Von Schroeder, you call me Alex."

Rad smiled, "I'm Radnor Cielo, you can call me Rad."

Alexander smiled, "So what bring you here, Rad to our lovely group?"

"To be honest…" Rad grinned, "I thought it would be lot of fun if I hang out with you guys."

Alexander smirked as he averted his eyes back to Kurai, "See? There's another one who joined, I wonder why."

Kurai frowned, "He and the one down there are the same as that idiot…"

Alexander blinked, "That idiot?"

Kurai scoffed as he walked away, "You probably know already with your connections."

Alexander frowned slightly as Kurai mentioned connections. He smiled slightly, "Actually, I do not. I like surprises sometime."

Kurai glanced at Alexander, "Hmph." He walked away.

Rad blinked innocently, "I want to know…whose the idiot?"

* * *

At the port of the Duel Academia, near the lighthouse.

Ryo, the notoriously famous Kaiser of Duel Academia, was staring sternly at the sunset. He then noticed a familiar presence walking toward him.

Asuka walked up to him and stared at the sunset too like Ryo.

Ryo asked, "Get your hands on anything?"

Asuka swayed her head, "No…" She gazed at the sunset with usual disappointment, "A day, the same as any other, is uneventfully passing by." The waves gently crashed upon the concrete pier the Obelisk Blues were standing on, "All the while, any signs of my brother have vanished into the waves…"

"Be patient," Ryo assured her, "I'm sure one day…"

"Yeah, I know…" Asuka couldn't help by said that. She heard it so many times, people telling her to be patient. She knew they care for her but at the same time, she admitted it was a little annoying to hear those repeating words. She decided to change the subject as she turned her eyes to Ryo, "That reminds me, I saw one of your little brother's duels."

"So what?" Ryo replied coldly.

Asuka continued, "I won't give any comments, but now, Yuki Judai wants to duel with you."

"Yuki Judai?" Ryo repeated as it sounded familiar. He then remembered, "Ah, from the entry exams…"

Asuka turned her body to face Ryo, "Will you take him up on his challenge, Ryo?"

"Aniki!" A familiar voice caught the Obelisk Blue's attentions. Beyond the lighthouse, they noticed a small Osiris Red near the rocky coast, trying to escape by his homemade raft.

Asuka's eyes widened, "That's…"

Ryo instantly recognized the person, "Sho!"

At the rocky coast, Sho was about to escape but he noticed Judai running toward him. Sho quickly jumped on his raft and was about to row away but…

Judai grunted as he took a large leap and landed on Sho's raft roughly. He was about to stand up but the weak craftsmanship of the raft collapsed under the weight of two Osiris Red, causing both of them to fell into the ocean.

Judai immediately stuck his head out of the water, followed by Sho who was flailing his arms around. Sho panicked, "H-help me, I can't swim!" He suddenly clenched to Judai.

Judai tried to help Sho but it wasn't working very well, "Hey, don't cling to me! We're gonna sink!" True to his words, they both sank.

A spirit of Hane Kuriboh chirped in concern.

Hayato immediately came running to them, "Sho! Judai!" He cannon-balled after them, creating a huge splash. Hayato then blinked as he was still standing, "It's shallow."

Judai and Sho suddenly stood up too. Sho coughed to get the salt water out of his lungs while Judai just stared at the water in disbelief of how stupid they were for drowning on swallow floor.

Sho looked at Judai with shame, "Just let me go in peace, Aniki," he looked down, "you don't have to worry about me…Just search for a different partner, and you'll at least escape being expelled, Aniki."

Judai frowned, "Quit complaining! I've made up my mind! You're my partner!"

Sho complained, "But I've got no chance the way I am now!"

Judai gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. He was so angry at Sho's weak will that his body was shaking.

"How pathetic, Sho." A new voice grabbed the Osiris Red freshmen's attentions. They looked up to see Ryo and Asuka.

Sho was surprised, "O-onii-san!"

Judai stared at Ryo, "So, that's Kaiser Ryo."

* * *

Back at South Duel Academy, near the lake with the waterfall.

Tsubaki collapsed from exhaustion, "I think I'm dead."

"No rest for you! ZAM!" She whipped him with a flexible stick.

"AH!" Tsubaki winced.

**

* * *

PART A END!**


	13. 7B: ZAM! Intense Training!

**Author's Note:** I'm on a roll here. This is another long chapter. You know what? If I told you, I'm using Lux-Nero's character, expect it to be a very long duel! Also, since we all know now that Tsubaki's using a Gem deck like Johan did, I want to say that I'm using Johan's trap and magic cards except I customized them to fit Gem Dragons instead of Gem Beasts. Also, I'm trying to decide if I should keep the Strongest Card of the Duel segment or not.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! Credit goes to Lux-Nero for Yumi. Credit also goes to GLL99 for subs of Yugioh GX episode 8.

**

* * *

Episode 7 – Part B**

"Say, kouhai, is there any reason that's making you work so hard? Zam." Yumi asked as they were taking a break from a hard training.

Tsubaki took a large gulp of cold refreshing water from his water bottle. He sighed as he felt relieved and answered, "You could say that…" He gaze upon the sky, "There's someone I want to catch up to…but…in order to catch up to someone I'm after, I have to catch up to another person first. That person is incredibly strong and has incredible drawing skills. Until I gain that person's respect, I will not feel that I caught up to him."

Yumi understood, "I see. The desire to catch up to someone is the same desire that will bring you strength. Zam! I understand!"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, _'Seriously, what is with the Zam?'_

Yumi continued, "I too want to catch up to someone. By catching up to someone, I defeat that someone. Therefore, if I wish to be the strongest, I will defeat any strong duelist! Zam!"

Tsubaki looked at her with slight awe, "I see…you have amazing confidence, Yumi."

Yumi stood proudly, "Therefore, I'm challenging the strongest Osiris Red Duelist tomorrow. Zam!"

Tsubaki smiled, "I would like to see that duel!" Then he realized with blinking eyes and small gaping mouth, "Eh…the strongest Osiris Red Duelist…you don't mean…"

Yumi pointed her finger to the Red dorms dramatically, "Kurai Yuki! To prove my strength, I'll defeat you!"

Tsubaki paled as he was surprised, "Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh? You're going to duel against Yuki?"

* * *

Within couple of minutes, Tsubaki arrived in the cafeteria to tell the news to Izumi and Kurai,…if Kurai was actually listening.

Izumi yelled out of surprise, "Ehhhhh? Your sensei is going to challenge Yuki to a duel?" Izumi whispered to Tsubaki, "You mean a card duel right?"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "I'm not really sure. She is martial artist, so a duel could mean anything!"

Izumi put her hands on her waist, "Well I understand if it is card duel since Yuki is really strong, I admit. But I'm not sure about…fighting skills…" She slowly averted her eyes toward Kurai at the same time as Tsubaki moved his eyes to Kurai too.

Kurai just crossed his arms and looked away, "Hmph."

Izumi shrugged her hands as she looked back at Tsubaki with "isn't it obvious" look, "Then again, Yuki always beat you up, so I'm not worried."

Tsubaki twitched, "Attack my manly pride, will ya? Then again, Yumi can also beat me up too…" He paled in despair and eventually, he sulked in the corner with shadows above him, "My pride…My manly pride is ruined."

"But you know, it's probably a card Duel." A familiar voice popped out of nowhere.

"Ahhhhhh!" Izumi backed away out of fright as she suddenly noticed Rad out of nowhere, "Rad?"

Rad smiled with closed eyes as he waved, "Hey there!"

Izumi cried with closed eyes and river of tears flowing down, "Can you stop it with the surprise entrances? It's bad enough that I'm not used to Alex's surprise entrances."

Rad laughed, "Ha, ha, ha. I guess you're still scared because of Domon's mean tricks from before, huh?"

Izumi smacked him with borrowed harisen from Yumi, "Don't even think about mentioning that creep!" She still shuddered from hearing the name of a certain horror-obsessed Ra Yellow duelist.

"Ouch!" Rad rubbed an obvious bump on his head, "You're quite mean, Izumi." He smiled as he stuck his index finger out, indicating that he knew something, "As I was saying! It gotta be a card duel!"

Izumi questioned, "But how can you be so sure?"

Rad answered proudly, "Because this is Duel Academy! Plus the writer wouldn't put any fights except card duels."

The narrator gave a thumb's up, "So true!"

Izumi's eyes were flat and her forehead vein and mouth were twitching as she was astounded by the stupidity, "…such…stupid…reason."

Kurai just sipped green tea, "Ah."

* * *

At Duel Academia.

"I summon Cyber Dragon in attack mode." Ryo called as a metallic serpentine dragon broke through concrete while rising from the ground.

"Eh!" Judai was shocked, "You summoned a five-star monster without even sacrificing?"

Ryo explained, "It's Cyber Dragon's special effect. It can be summoned without sacrifices when there are monsters on your field and none on mine."

Judai smacked his face-cheek and covered his right eye in disbelief, "Oh, wow!"

Ryo grabbed one card from his hand, "Then, I activate the Quick-play spell, Mystical Space Typhoon! It destroys one magic or trap card!" A green card with a picture of cyclone and a lightning bolt in the middle appeared, summoning a horizontal cyclone that destroyed Judai's face-down card.

Judai braced the shattered card's pieces, "He nailed me!"

"With Cyber Dragon, I attack Featherman!" Ryo ordered, "Evolution Burst!" The metallic dragon opened its jaw and breathed a powerful flamethrower that completely vaporized E-Hero Featherman into ashes.

Judai groaned as he only watched his full life points dwindled from 4000 to 2900.

Sho watched the duel in awe, _'Onii-san really is merciless!'_

Ryo continued, "Next, from my hand, I activate the Spell card, Time Capsule!" A green sarcophagus with yellow stripes and a Millennium Eye clock in the middle appeared, "I can choose a card from my deck," He grabbed one card from his deck, "and place this card inside the Time Capsule. On my second turn, it'll bring this card back into play." The sarcophagus opened, allowing the card to float inside. It shut itself closed as it vanished from the field.

Judai smiled, "So choosing a card you like from the deck, huh?" He rubbed below his nose, "I'm lookin' forward to see what you're bringing out."

'_Don't tell me that card's…_', Sho knew right away what card was that Kaiser selected.

* * *

Couple of hours of darkness passed and ended with the sun rising, indicating that the dreaded day had arrived. The dreaded day of the duel between one of best female Osiris Red duelists and the supposed best male Osiris Red duelist, no one knew what the result will be. Tsubaki, who couldn't help but be worried about the outcome of the upcoming duel decided to check on Yumi. Knowing that it was breakfast time, Tsubaki checked out the cafeteria and found Yumi drinking a jug of chocolate milk while sitting alone on her table, stretching her free arm's muscles.

Tsubaki walked up to her, "Hey, Yumi." That was all he could say since he's not sure what he should feel. Should he cheer on Yumi and encourage her to win against Kurai? Should he tell her that he's really strong and she should avoid disappointment?

"Kouhai! Zam!" Yumi greeted Tsubaki with her usual saying.

Tsubaki chuckled nervously, "Say, Yumi, do you really need to do this? I mean, it's not like you really have any good reasons to duel him."

Yumi narrowed her eyes at Tsubaki as he had said something wrong, "Do you really need a reason to chase after a stronger person? No, we don't. We just do because it's a matter of pride and wanting to earn the respect of others. That's why people strive to become stronger, to reach the very top all the time."

Tsubaki's eyes widened slightly as Yumi had said something very serious.

"Zam." Yumi finished her sentence and she drank her chocolate milk, causing Tsubaki to fall down.

Tsubaki stood up on his knees as he rubbed his poor head because he fell on the floor with his head, _'Man, seriously, what is with the zam?'_ He glanced at Yumi, who was drinking more chocolate milk. He commented, "You know, drinking sweetened milk is not going to make you taller."

Yumi twitched as she crushed the milk bottle with her own hand.

Tsubaki screamed as he was desperately running away from Yumi holding a giant harisen dangerously, "I didn't mean to call you short!" He cried.

* * *

While it was still morning and few hours before noon, Kurai left his dorm hut and headed off to find a secluded place for peace and quiet. He didn't really care about his upcoming duel with an annoying girl of the same grade as his. He only cared about beating one person, that one person solely.

"Yuki!" A female voice called out his name, causing Kurai to glance back slightly. It was Izumi, who just caught up to him. She panted from running and took a deep breath. She frowned, "You're not thinking of running away, are you?"

Kurai looked at Izumi as she was stupid and continued walking on the walkways.

Izumi twitched as she already recognized his "Are you stupid" look since she became accustomed to her friend's different styles of glares, "Hey, you don't need to give me that look!" She followed him, "You're not really running away, are you?" She was persistent.

Kurai sighed out of annoyance and decided to answer because he knew that Izumi wouldn't give up bothering him until she get answers, "No, I'm not running away."

Izumi countered, "If you're not running away, then how come you're leaving the Osiris Red dorms? You know Yumi is from the same grade as us."

Kurai reached the dry areas from the floating walkways, "I'm looking for someone place quiet…" He twitched, "Away from you and annoying people." He hoped that Izumi took his message.

Izumi understood his message but ignored it anyway. She crossed her arms and frowned, "So, you are running away."

Kurai rolled his eyes and he turned his head toward Izumi, "Not really, I never accept her challenge."

"That's true. Yuki never accepted her challenge therefore he's not really running away."

"Eh?" Izumi instantly recognized the voice and looked toward the owner, "Alex! You're here again!"

Kurai cursed, "Damn…" He silently groaned, _'So much for avoiding the idiots.'_

Alexander smiled as he greeted Izumi, "Good morning, Izumi," He averted his eyes to Kurai, "As I was saying that he's not really running away…but…"

"But?" Izumi blinked in confusion.

Alexander put his hand under his chin, looking like he knew everything. He smirked, "He is avoiding the challenge."

Kurai immediately glared at Alexander.

"Ah," Izumi translated Kurai's glare, "That's the same thing, you moron!" She said as it was the most obvious thing, "That is what he said."

Kurai then glared at Izumi too.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "What? I was just translating."

Alexander just laughed and smiled, "Ah, I just remember that I was going to tell you something."

"Kurai Yuki!" A girl declared his name as it was a challenge directly to Kurai. The others looked toward the owner of the voice. They saw Yumi standing next to Tsubaki on the top of a very small cliff nearby them. Tsubaki was looking extremely nervous as he looked like he failed to stop her. Yumi, on the other hand, was full of fighting spirit. Her arms were crossed and her eyes and expression were giving off a direct challenge.

Alexander smiled with his eyes closed and the sadistic look expressed on his face, "She's here."

Izumi twitched, "Oh sure, tell us that now!" She then took a thorough look at Yumi and commented, "Wow, I can tell that she really is strong…no wonder, Tsubaki complained that she can beat him up anytime…although…" She narrowed her eyes.

Kurai said it bluntly, "She's short."

Izumi fall down right away and stood up immediately after with clenched fist and angry face, "You don't have to say that out loud!"

Yumi, who sadly overheard Kurai's comment, twitched with her angry eyes hidden in the shadow of her bangs and her clenched fists shaking with anger.

Tsubaki had a large sweat droplet rolling down the back of his head. He commented silently, _'So like Yuki to say it carelessly.'_ He glanced nervously at Yumi, wondering what his teacher is going to do.

Yumi surprised Tsubaki as she took a deep breath. She quickly turned her back away from the others and mouthed to herself, "Zam. Zam. Zam. Zam. Zam."

Tsubaki had more sweat droplets rolling down his head as he was thinking that Yumi was being crazy, _'Man, there's that again…'_ He realized, _'Ah! Yumi must be saying Zam to calm herself down…'_ He frowned, _'well that certainly didn't help me because she still beats me up. Stupid shortie.'_

Yumi immediately smacked him in the head with her harisen. Tsubaki shouted, "Ouch!" He complained, "What the hell was that for?"

Yumi's forehead vein twitched as she explained, "You called me short. Zam."

Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched this time as he defended himself, "I didn't say anything!"

Yumi retorted, "You were thinking about it! Zam!" She sighed as she quickly composed herself. She then dramatically pointed her harisen to Kurai, challenging him formally, "Kurai Yuki, I challenge you to a duel! Zam!"

Izumi stared at Yumi as she was strange, "What's with the Zam at the end of the sentence?"

Alexander smiled, "I think it's cute."

Izumi sighed as she expected that answer, "Of course, you would say that."

Kurai stared directly at Yumi's dark eyes filled with determination and fighting will. Normally, common duelist wouldn't refuse a challenge unless for a reason. Kurai narrowed his amber eyes, "Why?"

Tsubaki was slightly surprised when he asked that. He pondered, _'is he asking…er…why should he fight a weak duelist like Yumi?'_ He panicked, _'Is he insulting her?'_

"Why? Zam?" Yumi was surprised too but she answered, "It's simple, Zam. I want to be the strongest! By defeating you, I'll get the title of the strongest, Zam!"

Kurai looked at Yumi as she was some kind of fool. He sighed annoyingly as he closed his eyes, "If it is the title you want, then go ahead, you can have it."

"Eh?" Tsubaki and Izumi were surprised and they thought the same thing, _'I thought Yuki wanted to be the strongest?'_

"Why, zam!" Yumi demanded to know.

Kurai opened his amber eyes, "A title is not going to help me defeat the only person I wish to fight."

Izumi blinked in surprise, "The only person you wish to fight?"

"Hmm, I wonder he meant that idiot." Rad mentioned as he was standing next to Izumi.

"Ahhhhh!" Izumi nearly jumped away from Rad. She complained, "Jeeze, don't do that when Alex did that!"

Tsubaki's eyes increased in size out of surprise. He didn't realize that he had the same wish as Kurai did. No wonder, he couldn't help but stick to him no matter how cold Kurai can be to him. They shared a somewhat similar desire. They shared the same desire to catch up to someone, _'So that's why…I hate him…yet I stay with him…we share a same goal…'_

Yumi glared as she refused to accept that answer. She immediately pointed out, "If that's true, then why do you challenge Hyun-Ki, the Obelisk Blue duelist? Zam!"

Kurai scoffed, "It's because I already knew he's strong. I knew in order to reach my goal, I have to eventually beat him," He narrowed his eyes, "And the Dynast too."

Izumi blinked, "Dynast?"

Tsubaki asked, "What's that?"

Alexander explained, "Dynast is a nickname of our number one Obelisk Blue duelist here, Dynast Hiroshi, just like Kaiser Ryo of Duel Academia."

Rad whistled, "This guy certainly set his goal high alright."

Kurai continued, "Plus, I don't want to waste time dueling with weaklings."

Tsubaki fall down as he really expected that answer, _'I knew it…I knew Yuki was going to say that.'_

Izumi sighed out of disappointment, "Yuki, you're so cold."

Alexander chuckled, "But that's Yuki, alright."

Yumi twitched as she felt insulted, "How dare you call me weakling when you haven't even fought me! Zam!" She challenged, "Yuki Kurai, if you're not a coward, you'll duel me right now! Zam!"

Kurai smirked and countered, "If you want to duel me, then you have to beat him first." He pointed his finger toward Tsubaki.

Tsubaki blinked in confusion and he stupidly pointed to himself, "Me?" He realized, "Eh, why me?"

Kurai explained, "That idiot declared himself as my rival. If you managed to beat my rival, then I'll duel against you."

Tsubaki's right eye twitched out of annoyance combined with anger and he shook his right clenched fist as he cursed to himself, _'Yuki, I thought you brushed me aside and now you're treating me as your rival! Damn you, Yuki!'_

"Agreed! Zam!" Yumi decided.

Tsubaki complained, "Don't decide it right away!"

Izumi screamed out of surprise, "Eh?"

Rad cheered, "Isn't that great, Tsubaki? You can try to get your win facing her instead of facing me."

Tsubaki scowled, "Oh shut up, Rad!"

Alexander smiled, "Good luck, Tsubaki."

Tsubaki stood there in shock, "But…but…" His mouth was moving up and down but he couldn't say anything more past the first word. He then yelled, "Why am I dueling for Yuki?"

* * *

Couple of minutes later, Yumi and Tsubaki were standing on the grassy cliff right next to the sandy beach and the clear ocean, facing the opposite of each other. Yumi smiled, "This is a good chance for the student to show the master how much he improved! Zam!" She was still angry about Kurai insulting her but at the same time she was excited to duel against her student. It was the pride of being the teacher that made her so excited.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "You do realize…Yuki did this to us…you know…"

Yumi snapped, "Trivial details! Duel! Zam!" She activated her Duel Disk.

Tsubaki looked at his duel disk as he contemplated, _'Rad taught me that it's important to have fun…but Yumi taught me it's important to have confidence in yourself…that person…just like Yuki…I want to beat that person…if I ever could find him…'_ He closed his eyes, _'No matter…I might lose again but I'm going to give it all I got!'_ His eyelids snapped open, revealing his fighting eyes. He activated his Duel Disk, "Duel!"

Izumi gulped as she stood on the sidelines, "This is the first time I get to see Tsubaki's deck…"

Rad bragged, "This is my second time I get to see it! They're really cool cards!"

"They're not that great." Kurai replied as he was watching too. He wanted peace and quiet but since he partly caused this, he felt slightly obliged to watch this.

Alexander smiled, "Ah, I thought you didn't see his duel?" since he remembered that Tsubaki complained to Alexander that Kurai didn't even see him fight against Rad.

Kurai narrowed his eyes at the sadistic Obelisk Blue duelist.

Alexander just smiled with his eyes closed in response.

"Eh, if you seen our duel," Rad asked Kurai, "What do you think of my deck? Since you used E-Merc and I used E-Heroes."

Kurai just ignored him. He slowly got accustomed to three idiots. He didn't need to get accustomed to another idiot.

Rad blinked as he looked like he was offended by Kurai's coldness.

Izumi reconciled, "Don't worry about it. Yuki is always like this."

"It's okay, I get it." Rad understood.

Izumi asked, "You do?"

Rad grinned, "Kurai is just really really shy!"

Izumi fell down. She stood up abruptly, "Where the heck did you get that impression?"

"I'll go first, Zam!" Yumi grabbed the top card from her deck and added it to her hand, "I summon Starter Fan Fighter in defense!" [**M1 (2/300/500)**] A young pre-teen warrior materialized on the field. He had messy black hair tied into a small ponytail on the back. He was dressed in white Chinese martial robes tied together with golden yellow strings over black baggy pants and white Chinese shoes. He held one white fan in his right hand but he immediately crouched on his knees and crossed his arms in defense, "I end my turn. Zam!"

"A Fan Fighter?" Izumi asked, "Her deck theme is martial artist? How so like a martial artist to use martial artist deck."

Alexander smiled, "Probably, it's certainly going to be interesting."

Izumi teased, "Ha! Any duels that involved us you think it's interesting."

Alexander chuckled, "Oh, you found me out."

Rad blinked as he noted, "I wonder if she's planning something."

"Why you say that?" Izumi questioned.

Rad answered, "She just summoned a low level monster in defense mode without any face down cards to protect it."

"Maybe…" Izumi suggested innocently, "She thought she put it in attack mode."

Rad laughed, "Yeah right, who would make a stupid mistake like that?"

"…Excuse me?" Izumi glared with red murderous aura since she made a similar mistake in her previous duel with Shizuka.

Kurai ignored their comments easily as he continued watching the duel.

Tsubaki mused, _'Yumi summon a monster with weak defense with no face down cards to protect it?...Oh well!'_ Tsubaki touched the top card of his deck, "Draw!" He snatched the card and looked at his hand, 'Lucky!' He grabbed one card and placed it on his Duel Disk vertically, "I summon Ruby Gem Dragon in attack mode!" [**M2 (4/1900/1200)**] A large ruby stone grew on the field and shattered like glasses as a ruby scale wingless dragon with two long tails jumped out to the field. He roared threatenedly at the young Fan Fighter. Tsubaki shouted, "Now, Ruby Gem Dragon! Attack Starter Fan Fighter with Crimson Claw!" The ruby dragon roared again and then pounced high toward the young fighter.

Yumi stretched her arm out toward her monster, "Starter Fan Fighter's effect activates! Zam!"

"Eh, there's an effect?" Tsubaki shouted out of surprise.

Yumi swayed her finger as she was disappointed in her student, "You should know better than to struck a weak monster unprotected by spell/trap cards because those sort of monsters could have powerful effects. Zam."

Tsubaki gritted his teeth, "What kind of effects does it have then?"

Yumi smirked, "When my monster is attacked while in defense mode, I can activate a trap card from my hand! Zam!"

"Nani? You can activate a trap card from your hand?" Tsubaki gasped.

"Trap card, Tessenjutsu – Tengu's Teachings, activate! Zam!" [**T1**] Yumi played a card from her hand and the field showed a purple card with a green bird-like humanoid Japanese demon holding a red fan teaching a human martial artist bowing on the ground, "This card allowed me to immediately equip a fan card to my Fan Fighter card. The Fan card I chose is Tai Chi Fans! Zam!" [**S1**] She inserted the spell card into her M/T slot, letting the spell card materialized on the Field face-up. It was a picture of double blue fans with dark wood base. The blue fans had patterns of waves that presented water. The spell card dissolved as the blue fans appeared in the young fighter's hands.

Tsubaki asked, "How is the equipment spell card going to help you? My Ruby Gem Dragon is still attacking!"

Yumi scoffed, "Observe! Zam!" The ruby dragon continued its pounce toward the young fan fighter until suddenly, the fan fighter stood up and held the fans as they were shields. The ruby dragon immediately stopped as it came in contact what appeared to be a water shield created by the fans. Since it touched the blue shield, the dragon was frozen in mid-air. The fighter moved his blue fans fluidly and began to absorb crimson energy emanating from the ruby dragon. The fighter continued to move his fans fluidly, letting the red energy following it as he was one with the water. Finally, the red energies formed a ball and then the fighter shot the ball forward, pushing the dragon back with incredible force.

The dragon collided with Tsubaki, who reacted with a painful scream, causing him to fall backward because of the forceful impact. Tsubaki groaned as the dragon moved away from his body and he stood up slowly. He demanded, "What the hell was that?"

Yumi explained, "It's the effect of Tai Chi Fans! Zam!" She smiled knowingly as she was proud of herself, "When my equipped monster was attacked, I can negate that attack and do damage to my opponent equal to the ATK of the monster that attacked the equipped monster. Zam."

Tsubaki blinked as he slowly absorbed all the explanation from Yumi. He then gaped, "Ah! It's the Equipment Spell version of Magic Cylinder!" He paled as he remembered that he lost his previous duel because of that infamous trap card.

Tsubaki: 4000 – 1900 = 2100. Yumi: 4000.

Izumi shouted, "Tsubaki! Come on! Be serious already! You lost half of your Life Points already!"

Rad shouted, "Yeah, plus you fell for that trap last time!"

Tsubaki winced but shouted back, "I know that!"

Alexander smiled while making an observation, "So, Yumi's deck was not really martial artist. It's all about fighters who used the style of fans."

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Here, I thought that fans can be used to cool you down." She realized, "Why didn't Yumi equip that card right away in the first turn instead of wasting a trap card?"

Alexander explained, "If she equips a deadly magic card to her weak monster, no doubt that even a man like Tsubaki will be cautious of it."

Tsubaki twitched as he overheard that, "Why do you mean a man like me?"

Alexander smiled with closed eyes, "Oh, nothing."

Rad answered honestly with a laugh, "It means you're not very bright, Tsubaki!"

Tsubaki snarled at Rad, "Oh just join in the fun, why don't ya?"

Kurai crossed his arms as he continued to observe the duel.

Tsubaki felt frusterated as one of his monsters was easily countered back toward him. He cursed to himself, _'Damnit…am I not just good enough?'_ He glanced down at his Hand which was filled with cards that couldn't help him with the situation, _'I know having fun is important too…but…this is just feeling frustrating! How can I do this?'_ He cussed as he placed one face-down card, "I set one card face down and I end my turn."

Izumi looked troubled as she couldn't really help but felt a tinge of disappointment. She fretted, "This is my first time, seeing Tsubaki dueling…but so far…his strategy is rather…" She struggled to say the word.

Alexander finished, "Simple?" He smiled, "I agreed too. It was the same thing in his last duel with Rad. The only thing he done was to summon powerful monsters and only counter with few cards." He chuckled as he rubbed his chin, "But I had a notion that we haven't seen his potential."

Rad smirked, "He's like a diamond in the rough."

Izumi sweatdrop, "Funny you said that when Tsubaki is using gem dragon...I guess I agreed with you but then again…" She chuckled softly, "Who am I to complain about the others when I should be complaining about myself?"

Kurai just remained in the same position, watching the duel with his gazing eyes.

"Draw! Zam!" Yumi drew her card, "I'm disappointed, kouhai! I expect you to show me more than just this! Zam!" She played one Spell card from her hand, "I play Pot of Greed! [**S2**] I get to draw two cards! Zam!" She drew two cards and then she slammed one card face-up vertically, "I summon Iron Fan Fighter! Zam! [**M3 (4/1800/1300)**] The monster card appeared on the field and dissolved as it was replaced by a thin athletic young man with sharp face of a fighter and messy black hair. He was dressed in red Chinese robes tied with black strings and adorned with golden lines around the edges. He wore white baggy pants and red Chinese shoes. Finally, he wielded two black fans with iron metallic base.

Yumi played another card, "Then I equip this spell card, Iron Harisen, [**S3**] to Iron Fan Fighter! Zam!" Her spell card appeared on the field, showing a picture of a Japanese paper fan made out of gray-colored iron. The red-robed fighter's black fans vanished as they were replaced by one large harisen that was nearly large as the fighter himself.

"Another fan equipment card?" Tsubaki whined as the situation grew worse for him because he knew that his master was using powerful equipment card.

"That's right. Zam." Yumi explained the effect, "This card increases my monster's ATK by 500 and that's not all! Zam!" [**Iron Fan Fighter: 1800/1300 + 500/0 = 2300/1300**]

Tsubaki groaned, "I should have known that there's more."

"Allow me to show you! Zam!" Yumi stretched her right arm out as she ordered, "Iron Fan Fighter, attack kouhai's Ruby Gem Dragon! Zam!" The red-robed fighter crouched forward with both legs and the iron harisen held tightly with two hands behind him. He suddenly leapt forward across the field and delivered a powerful smack to the ruby dragon's head.

Tsubaki: 2100 – 400 = 1700. Yumi: 4000.

Tsubaki groaned as he knew that his life points were dwindling but he declared, "When Ruby Gem Dragon is destroyed, I get to special summon a token!"

"But the dragon is not destroyed. Zam!" Yumi interrupted.

"What?" Tsubaki exclaimed out of surprise.

"The second effect of Iron Harisen activates! Zam!" Yumi explained, "When my equipped monster attacks your monster, instead of destroying it, I send it right back to your hand! Therefore, canceling your token effect! Zam!" The red-robed fighter continued its assault as he smacked the ruby dragon for the second time like a baseball bat, sending the poor lizard right back to Tsubaki's Hand.

"Ah!" Tsubaki nearly cried out as the card landed roughly in his Hand.

"I then place two cards face down! Zam!" Yumi inserted two cards in her M/T slots, making two holograms appeared on the field, "Turn over! Zam!"

Tsubaki gritted his teeth as he doesn't like the situation. He already lost over half of his life points. He also missed his upcoming opportunity to summon his trump card, Gratia Gem Dragon. He was going to activate his trap card, Rock Bombardment, and sacrifices Garnet Gem Dragon to special summon a token to the field. Then Tsubaki would have sacrifice the token and Ruby Gem Dragon to summon his strongest card. He thought to himself, _'Then again, I could use Topaz Gem Dragon's token to destroy one of his monsters…it could work…'_ He declared, "My turn…"

"I activate my face-down card! Zam!" Yumi shouted, "I play Tessenjutsu – Gum Loong Sin!" [**T2**] Her face-down card stood up straight, revealing a picture of silk black fans containing beautiful embroidery of a golden serpent dragon, "This permanent trap card can only work when there's a Fan Fighter on the field. It protects all my Fan fighters from being destroyed by trap or spells! Zam!"

"What?" Tsubaki silently cursed himself since now he couldn't use the token's effect to destroy Yumi's Fan Fighter. He closed his eyes as he felt devastated, _'Is there nothing I can do…even if I do summon Gratia Gem Dragon…mostly likely, Yumi will send it back with her Iron Harisen card. By then, she'll probably summon a strong monster to attack me directly…'_ He glanced at his hand, _'I don't even any good cards in my hand, not even Negate Attack…,'_ His face dropped down and his eyes were hidden under the shadows of his bangs, 'maybe…I'm not really suited to use the Gem Stone deck…' His mind drifted to the past.

* * *

A little boy with spiky red hair was standing straight as he was expected to behave well but his body was trembling out of nervousness since he was only a child. The little boy was summoned to a very fancy office decorated with many expensive items and valuable antiques, indicating the owner was a very successful businessman. The little boy gulped as he stared directly at the owner who was already in the office. The owner had long silver hair that touched his shoulders and his eyes hidden by the shadows of his hair. He wore a very nice red suit custom made with pink frills.

The owner already could tell that the boy was nervous. He smiled, "You don't need to be afraid, Tsubaki-boy."

"Um yes!" The little boy, named Tsubaki, shouted as he still felt nervous because he never thought that he would be in the presence of a world-wide famous person, the creator of Duel Monsters card.

The owner chuckled at the little boy's embarrassment as he was slightly amused. He smiled, "Do you like Duel Monsters?"

Tsubaki blinked in confusion when the man asked him that question. He slowly nodded and answered, "Yes…" He's unsure about what else to say.

The owner smiled softly, "So do I." He took out a deck out of his pocket and handed it to the boy, "This will be your new deck, Tsubaki boy."

The boy blinked in surprise and slowly accepted the deck from the owner. As soon as he had the deck, he glanced at the cards inside. He nervously asked, "The Gem Stones?" He spoke the name of the monster cards in the deck.

The owner confirmed, "Correct. They are very special and powerful cards if used right in a duel." He chuckled as he felt very proud of his creations.

Tsubaki looked at the owner, "And…I can have it?"

The owner swayed his finger, "Only temporarily until I decide the rightful owner of the Gem Stones."

Tsubaki asked, "The rightful owner?"

The owner smiled, "That's right, Tsubaki boy. I want you to use this deck for a test drive."

"Oh…" Tsubaki couldn't help but sound a little disappointed because this deck will be taken away from him eventually.

The owner chuckled as he patted Tsubaki's head. He kneeled down to the little boy's height, "If you do well with it, you may have it."

Tsubaki's eyes widened slightly in awe. He closed his eyes and smiled, "Yeah!"

* * *

'_So far…I haven't done well with it at all…I can't use the full power of the Gems correctly…I don't get it…before…I tried to have fun….although I haven't win that often…am I lacking something?'_ Tsubaki's eyes slowly averted to the white gem dragon monster card in his hand, _'What am I lacking?'_

"Draw already." A cold voice interrupted Tsubaki's train of thoughts.

"Eh?" Tsubaki suddenly looked up toward the owner of the voice.

Kurai, who still had his arms crossed in a typical cold pose, complained, "Aren't you going to draw?"

Tsubaki stared at Kurai with slight surprise in his eyes. Sure, Kurai was being a cold stiff as usual but there's something rare about Kurai speaking in the middle of the duel. Tsubaki then realized why he was jealous of Kurai. He was jealous of the fact that Kurai always have won his duel but then Tsubaki remembered, no matter how grave the situation for Kurai is, Kurai always drew the right card.

Tsubaki pondered as he closed his eyes in deep thoughts, _'Just what made him draw the right card? Is it luck, faith, or power? …whatever it is…' _His fingers touched the top card of his Deck, _'I have to draw!'_ He suddenly snatched the card away from his Duel Disk and he then glanced at it with sudden realization. He instantly played it, "I play Graceful Charity!" [**S4**] His spell card appeared on the field with the picture of a beautiful holy angel holding a floating card above her palms, "I draw three cards and then discard two!" He grabbed the top three and his eyes widened in shock, _'This is…I haven't seen those for a while…so...why of all the sudden?...'_ Then he felt a calming presence and quickly noticed the Gratia Gem Dragon card in his Hand glowing very faintly. The glow disappeared and Tsubaki couldn't believe what he just saw. The card just glowed which was scientifically impossible but Tsubaki somehow believed it, _'I see now…'_ He closed his eyes as he smiled slightly.

"Aren't you supposed to discard two cards? Zam?" Yumi interrupted him.

Tsubaki chuckled, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot." He quickly discarded two cards into the Graveyard slot.

Rad chided, "Come on, Tsubaki, don't lose your head in the game!"

Izumi cheered, "You can do it, Tsubaki!"

Alexander just smiled.

Tsubaki grabbed the same card from his hand, "I summon Ruby Gem Dragon in attack mode again!" A ruby crystal erupted in the field and shattered, revealing the same lizard-like dragon with two ruby-tipped tails.

Yumi scoffed, "What's the point of summoning that monster again? It cannot defeat my Iron Fan Fighter's ATK point and I'll just send it back with the Iron Harisen again. Zam!"

"That's true," Tsubaki smirked, "But I'm still attacking! Ruby Gem Dragon! Attack Iron Fan Fighter!" The ruby dragon dashed across the Field toward his target.

Yumi was surprised, "Zam?"

"Eh?" Izumi was surprised too, "Tsubaki, you idiot? What are you doing?"

Tsubaki suddenly snatched one card from his Hand and immediately played it, "I play a quick-play spell card, M-Force!" [**S5**] His spell card instantly appeared on the Field with a picture of the letter "M" made of green crystal on a teal sparkling background.

"Zam!" Yumi shouted out of great confusion.

Tsubaki smirked, "M-Force instantly increases the ATK of my Gem Dragon by 500! Now my monster is stronger than yours! Iron Fan Fighter, prepare to be destroyed!" [**Ruby Gem Dragon – 1900/1200 + 500/0 = 2400/1200**]

"Not if I can help it! Zam!" Yumi quickly pressed the button on the M/T slot, "I too activate my quick-play spell card, Tessenjutsu – Iron Bridge Hand!" [**S6**] The face-down card was flipped up, showing a picture of a red-robed fan fighter defending as he was using the fans as shield, "When my Fan Fighter is selected as an attack target, I can activate this card and prevent it from being destroyed. Zam!"

"Damnit," Tsubaki countered, "But I still can do damage to you!" The ruby dragon pounced at the Iron Fan Fighter, forcing the fighter's body to the ground roughly. The dragon then jumped off the Iron Fan Fighter and slashed Yumi slightly. The dragon jumped back to its original position.

Tsubaki: 1700. Yumi: 4000 – 100 = 3900.

Yumi laughed, "It's only a scratch! Zam!"

Tsubaki gritted his teeth, "I place two cards face down." Two cards appeared on Tsubaki's M/T side of the field, "At the end of my turn, my dragon's ATK power returned to normal." [**Ruby Gem Dragon – 2400/1200 -500/0 = 1900/1200**]

Yumi chuckled, "It seemed your spell card is not all that fancy. Zam."

Izumi blinked with slight confusion, "If the card can only increase ATK by 500 until the end of the turn, wouldn't it be better with um…?" She tried to remember.

"Rush Recklessly?" Rad filled in.

Izumi nodded in response, "Yeah…and plus…what's with the weird name, M-Force?"

Alexander chuckled, "You should learn in dueling class that there's a purpose for every card."

"Hmm." Kurai murmured softly in agreement

"Draw!" Yumi drew her card and then pointed her hand toward the black-robed fighter, "I now sacrifice my Starter Fan Fighter," the young martial artist dissolved into specks of energy, "to summon Steel Fan Fighter!" [**M4 (6/2200/1850)**] Suddenly, a thin well-build martial artist jumped onto the field, dressed in Chinese sleeveless blue silk dress-vest with yellow strings and belt over his blue baggy pants. He had blue wrist sleeves and long red hair tied into a thin ponytail. He wielded two red fans with pictures of a green dragon surrounded by green wind, "Now, I get to activate Iron Fan Fighter's effect! When Steel Fan Fighter is successfully tribute summoned, I can special summon Bamboo Fan Fighter [**M5 (4/1700/900)**] from my deck!" Her Deck ejected one card and she grabbed it, playing it right away. Suddenly, a thin teenage fighter appeared on the field. He had black trimmed hair and dressed in green silk Chinese fighter robe tied together with brown strings over yellow baggy pants. He held two forest green fans with bamboo wooden bases, "Bamboo Fan Fighter's effect activates! Zam!"

Yumi declared, "When there's Steel Fan Fighter on the Field, this monster can attack twice! Also, when there's Iron Fan Fighter, I can select one Fan Equipment card from my deck!" She looked through her deck and took one card. She showed the card to Tsubaki, revealing the picture of an expensive-looking fan with golden base with maroon pink silk wrappings containing the picture of a dragon. The fan was also decorated with dark blue pattern edges and pink feathered frills, "The Equipment card I pick is the Gust Fan! [**S7**] Then I equip this card to Steel Fan Fighter, increasing his ATK by 400 and decrease its DEF by 200! Zam!" [Steel Fan Fighter – 2200/1850 +400/-200 = 2600/1650]

"Then I play a spell card, Tessenjutsu – Fei Loong Sin!" [**S8**] Yumi played the spell card, the Field revealed the holographic picture of the spell card containing blue silk fans with pictures of silver dragon that looked like its soaring.

"Fei….Loong…Sin?" Tsubaki struggled to say it and demanded, "What kind of effect does that card have now?"

Yumi smirked, "You'll see. Zam. Now for battle! Zam!" Yumi shouted, "Iron Fan Fighter, attack Ruby Gem Dragon! Send him right back to his hand! Zam!" The red-robed fighter charged instantly with the iron harisen right behind his back. He then held the harisen high as he was about to smack the poor dragon once again.

"Not so fast!" Tsubaki yelled, "I play my face-down card, G-Force!" [**T3**] His trap card showed a picture of the letter "G" made in purple crystal with shining purple background.

"Another letter Force card?" Izumi claimed.

"Hmm, interesting…now it's the letter "G." Alexander pointed out.

"G" and "M" Izumi said the letters played in the Duel, "Um…..I'm guessing Tsubaki has 26 letters of Spell and Trap cards?"

"…..26 Letters of Spell and Trap cards?" Alexander said it as he couldn't believe what Izumi just said and then laughed out loud as he found it amusing.

Izumi pouted, "Hey, it could be possible!"

Rad spoke in awe, "Wouldn't that be cool? That means there's A-Force, B-Force, C-Force…"

Alexander just laughed more.

Tsubaki twitched as he overheard their conversations, "I don't have 26 Spell and Traps cards in my deck! That's too many!" He looked back at the Field, "Anyhow, when your monster attacks, I can activate G-Force. It allows me to choose one Gem Dragon monster in my hand and your monster must battle with it!" Tsubaki snatched the trump card from his hand, "The monster I chose is Gratia Gem Dragon!" [**M6 (7/2700/2200)**] Suddenly, a shining pillar of light struck the Field between the Iron Fan Fighter and the Ruby Gem Dragon. The pillar then vanished, revealing a huge dragon with white diamond scales and wings, black crystal chest, and red spine spikes. The diamond dragon gave a magnificent roar as greeting.

"An ATK of 2700? Zam?" Yumi yelled.

Tsubaki smirked, "Not really! Gratia Gem Dragon gets 300 ATK boost for each Rock Type on the Field! He get an ATK of…." He frowned as he was struggling to say something and then counted his fingers. He answered, "3600!"

Yumi was very surprised, "3600! Zam?"

Izumi was also surprised too, "the ATK power of 3600!"

The diamond dragon gave a bright glow as his ATK power increased. [**Gratia Gem Dragon – 2700/2200 + 600/0 = 3300/2200**]

Yumi gasped, "3300? Zam?" She blinked, "It's not 3600. Zam."

Izumi assumed, "Maybe Tsubaki got his math wrong?" She noticed the diamond dragon and ruby dragon, "There's only two dragons, thus 600 ATK boost…Tsubaki…you suck at math, huh?"

Alexander just laughed.

Rad cheered, "Hey, don't worry about it, Tsubaki! I suck at math too!"

Izumi blinked, "How do you get into Ra Yellow in the first place? I mean there's math in the written entry exam."

Rad grinned, "I go with my pure guts!"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "You mean…you just guess every math question right?"

Rad grinned proudly, "Yep!"

Izumi gaped, "Unbelievable…"

Tsubaki twitched because he hate being laughed at, "I do not suck at math!...Not that badly…But that's not the point! It is 3600!"

Izumi sweat-dropped as she thought that he was crazy, "Um Tsubaki, its ATK is 3300."

Tsubaki glared, "Not unless I activate this face-down card!" The face-down card went up, showing a picture of a stone castle being under siege by thrown rocks, "My trap card, Rock Bombardment! [**T4**] This card allows me to get any Rock-type monster from my deck and send it to the graveyard for 500 life-points damage to my opponent!" Right on cue, the medieval wooden catapult was summoned right behind Tsubaki, "The monster I chose is Garnet Gem Dragon!" [**M7 (4/1600/1500)**] A fat brown lizard-like dragon with large shell filled with topaz gems appeared right on the catapult, "Now, fire!" The catapult fired the fat dragon right at Yumi, creating a large collision with waves of dust following afterward.

Tsubaki: 1700. Yumi: 3900 – 500 = 3400.

Tsubaki braced the waves of dust and smoke but he continued, "And when Topaz Gem Dragon goes to the Graveyard, I can special summon Topaz Gem Pup Token!" [**Token (1/100/100)**] A small yellow crystal egg grew on the field and hatched into a small chubby dragon with topaz crystal shell, "And since there's another Rock-type on the field, my Gratia Gem Dragon is seriously, truly, officially 3600 ATK monster!"

"Ohhhhh." Izumi and Yumi mouthed as they finally understood.

Tsubaki declared, "Now continue battle! Gratia Gem Dragon! Blinding Prism Flash!" The diamond glowed beautifully as he was absorbing colorful energies from the crystals of the gem dragons. He opened its mouth with razor sharp fangs, showing an allotting sphere of colors. Finally, he fired a large rainbow breath at the Iron Fan Fighter.

"I activate my Tessenjutsu – Fei Loong Sin!" Yumi shouted the name of the magic card she set on the Field, "By using this magic card, I can prevent my monster from being destroyed as the result of battle! Zam!"

"What?" Tsubaki yelled as the Iron Fan Fighter suddenly wielded the harisen as a shield allowing the amazing colorful breath to pass through him and hit Yumi.

Tsubaki: 1700. Yumi: 3400 – 1200 = 2200.

"But I have to take damage and end my battle phase. Zam." Yumi explained, "But it's worth it. Zam."

"Worth it?" Tsubaki asked and he gasped as his diamond dragon vanished from the Field. He looked back at his Hand, "It's back in my hand."

Yumi continued, "By protecting my Iron Fan Fighter, I will use the effect of Harisen to send back that giant dragon to your hand if you dare to bring it out. Zam. Your precious trump card failed. You still have a long way to go, kouhai! Zam!"

Tsubaki groaned but he was determined, "It doesn't matter if my trump card is back in my hand! I gotta continue trying! Draw!" He drew the top card and glanced at it, "And it paid off! I play Pot of Greed!" He discarded the famous green pot card and drew two cards from the deck, _'This is…more Gem cards….luck is smiling upon me now! I can't lose! Alright, I'll try this long shot!'_ He shouted, "I now start my battle phase!"

The others were surprised except Alexander who remained smiling and Kurai who remained watching.

Izumi shouted out of surprise, "Eh? You're not going to summon Gratia Gem Dragon?"

Tsubaki ordered, "Ruby Gem Dragon, attack Steel Fan Fighter!" The ruby dragon roared as he obeyed his master's command. He suddenly ran across the field toward the blue-robed fighter holding expensive but powerful fans.

Izumi became more surprised, "A suicide attack?"

When the dragon reached few feet away from the fighter, he suddenly pounced high toward the fighter. The fighter quickly countered with graceful martial arts. He folded both fans together and struck the dragon in one area at the same time, shattering the poor crystal lizard into pieces.

Tsubaki: 1700 – 700 = 1000. Yumi: 2200.

Tsubaki pointed to his Field, "When Ruby Gem Dragon is sent to the Graveyard, I can special summon Ruby Gem Pup token to the Field!" [**Token (1/100/100)**] Right on cue, a red crystal egg grew on the field and hatched into a small cute little red dragon with tiny red crystal on its thin tail, "Then I activate my face-down card, Gem Set!" [**T5**] His last face-down card revealed itself, showing a picture of the blue sapphire dragon disappearing as the red ruby dragon took his place, "When my Gem Dragon is destroyed as the result of battle, I can special summon one Lv. 4 or lower Gem Dragon from my deck!" He snatched one card from his Deck and slammed it on the duel disk, "Arise, Sapphire Gem Dragon!" [**M8 (4/1700/1400)**] An ocean blue scale dragon with crystal spikes on its spine all the way to the tail arrived on the field.

Tsubaki grabbed one of the four cards from his Hand, "I then play Gem Guidance!" [**S9**] The spell card quickly appeared on the field with the picture of a purple crystal flashing with shadows in the background, "When there are two Gem Pup tokens on the Field, I can special summon another Gem Dragon from my deck. The monster I chose is Emerald Gem Dragon!" [**M9 (4/1800/1300)**] A green lizard-like dragon with fox tail of green crystals appeared on the Field.

Tsubaki then played another card in his Hand, "I also play Rare Value!" [**S10**] His new spell card contained the picture of green and red crystals with two cards, "When there's two Gem Pup tokens on the field, I can randomly remove one of them!" His red child dragon shattered from the field, "Because of my Ruby Gem Pup's sacrifice, I get to draw two cards!" He drew the two cards from the Deck and he looked at them. He smirked, "Lucky!" He quickly played the other spell card, "I play Monster Reincarnation!" [**S11**] The holy item of the spell card showed itself on the field, "By discarding one card, I can bring back a monster card from the Graveyard to my hand! I discard Gratia Gem Dragon to bring back Ruby Gem Dragon card!" He revealed his trump card and then discarded it, his Graveyard slot automatically ejected the card he need.

Izumi was surprised, "You send your strongest card to the Graveyard?"

Yumi narrowed her eyes as she mused, _'Why would he did that? Unless he had some monster-reviving card in his hand…hmph, even if he does re-summon Gratia Gem Dragon from the Graveyard, he won't be able to beat me as long as I have my magic card on the Field. Zam.'_

Tsubaki continued using cards from his hand, "Next, I play E-Force!" [**S12**] His spell card had the picture of the letter "E" made out of red crystal with red sparking background.

Izumi claimed, "Another letter-force card?"

Alexander smiled, "Well, what do you know? He has all the three letters now."

Izumi blinked, "All three letters now? All? He played M, G, E…" She realized, "Ah, together, they spelled Gem!"

Rad pointed out, "Hence the Gem Dragons!"

Kurai twitched, "Bakas."

Tsubaki explained, "By removing one Gem Pup token from the Field, E-Force allow me to special summon one Gem Dragon from the Graveyard to the Field." The chubby gem baby dragon vanished from the Field.

Yumi countered, "I see. Zam. You plan to special summon Gratia Gem Dragon. Zam!" She chuckled, "Even if you did, it's not going to be enough to beat me because my magic card will prevent my monster from being destroyed. Zam."

Tsubaki smirked, "Heh, who said I'm bringing back Gratia Gem Dragon?"

"What? Zam!" Yumi act surprised.

Tsubaki shouted, "E-Force, bring back Topaz Gem Dragon!" A yellow crystal grew on the field and shattered like glass, revealing the heavy brown dragon with turtle-like shell of topaz gems on its back, "I now then normal summon Ruby Gem Dragon back to the field!" The ruby dragon was summoned to the Field again for the third time, "Now, I play the real trump card in this duel! I play Gem Burst!" [**S13**] The last card of his hand had a picture of the letters "G," "E," and "M" with a yellow background.

Izumi exclaimed, "Gem?"

Tsubaki explained the effect, "By removing G-Force, E-Force, and M-Force from my Graveyard, I can activate this card! I can send as many as I want Gem Dragons from the Field to the Graveyard!" All the four colorful dragons then disappeared from the Field, leaving behind four eggs of respective colors of the dragons. The eggs hatched into four cute small baby dragons, "Because all four Gem Dragons were sent to the Graveyard, I can special summon four Gem Pup tokens. Then the second effect of Gem Burst begins!"

"The second effect? Zam?" Yumi asked.

"For each Gem Pup token on the field, I can do 600 damage to you!" Tsubaki shouted as the four baby dragons suddenly glowed brightly with their colors. Each dragon opened its small beak mouths and fired a powerful beam of their respective colors. Thus red, yellow, green, and blue beams shot across the field and struck Yumi with a colorful explosion.

Yumi screamed as she couldn't brace the explosion.

Tsubaki: 1000. Yumi: 2200 – 2400 = 0.

Tsubaki grinned, "You officially lost."

Yumi groaned slightly as she fell on her knees, "Zam."

Izumi's eyes widened and then she cheered, "He won!"

Rad applauded loudly, "Alright, Tsubaki! You did it!"

Alexander smiled as he softly clapped his hands, "As expected."

"Hmm." Kurai smirked slightly and then walked away from them.

Yumi punched the ground, "I cannot believe I lost to my kouhai. Zam!" She punched the ground again. She then noticed Tsubaki, who walked up to her.

"Thanks." Tsubaki said, surprising Yumi, "It was thanks to you, I remember what I really lost. I thought it was having fun but I was wrong. I remembered that you have to have confidence to win even when the situation is grave. So, I thank you, Yumi-senpai."

Yumi was silent and then closed her eyes. She laughed softly, "What kind of teacher am I if I let my kouhai talk to me like that? Zam."

Tsubaki sweat-dropped as he suddenly felt like he said something wrong, "Eh I mean…I was trying to say…"

Yumi stood up and pointed to Tsubaki dramatically, "You come a long way! I admitted my loss to you. I can see why Yuki Kurai accepted you as rival! Zam! I will train to be even stronger and then I will defeat you! Zam! Farewell! Zam!" She then ran off.

Tsubaki blinked in confusion as Yumi disappeared, running away from his view of sight. Tsubaki pointed to himself, "But…I'm not really…his rival…He doesn't even admit me!" He twitched, "In fact, he's not even here anyway!" He glared as he already noticed that Kurai disappeared.

Izumi laughed as she ran up to him, "I think Yuki does accept you. He just doesn't want to say it."

Tsubaki crossed his arms, "You're just saying that. That cold hearted stiff didn't even acknowledge me."

Alexander smiled, "Doesn't he already acknowledge you?"

"Huh?" Tsubaki asked with confusion.

Alexander smiled, "He wouldn't tell Yumi to challenge you if he doesn't acknowledge your duelist's strength."

Tsubaki blinked out of surprise. He smiled softly, "I guess."

**

* * *

TBC**

**Izumi: **Hooray! It's Tsubaki's first victory after so many tragic losses!

**Tsubaki twitched: **What do you mean by many losses? I only dueled once and that's against a crazy psycho!

**Izumi: **Trivial details!

**Tsubaki: **What about you? You haven't even won yet!

**Izumi:** Eh?...You're right! Well…I didn't have time to duel lately!

**Tsubaki: **If you don't have time to duel, then what do you have time for?

**Izumi: **I have time for….Dance! Yes, I felt like dancing!

**Tsubaki: **Dance? Who would dance in Duel Academy?

**Next Episode: Episode 8 – Dance Dance Duel Revolution!**

**Tsubaki: **Eh? DDR combined with Dueling?

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Duel – Gratia Gem Dragon**

**Alexander: **So the strongest card this time is Tsubaki's trump card. What a pleasure.

**Izumi: **Hooray for Tsubaki! He get such a cool awesome powerful card that almost resemble the famous Cyber Dragon or Blue Eyes White Dragon.

**Alexander: **One could say it's between Cyber Dragon and Blue Eyes White Dragon. Tsubaki is very lucky to have such a card but it's such shame that he won't keep it.

**Izumi: **He won't keep it, why?

**Alexander smiled: **It's a gem card, a rare card never seen before in the World. Tsubaki actually stole real rare gems and turned them into actual cards. In fact, the police are still after them!

**Izumi gasped: **We have to warn Tsubaki! Tsubaki! **::She ran off to find him.::**

**Alexander chuckled: **I wonder how long before Izumi realized I was fooling her.

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 ****- Starter Fan Fighter – Wind/Warrior/2/300/500**: When this card is attacked in defense mode, activate one trap card from your hand.

**M2 - ****Ruby Gem Dragon – Fire/Rock/4/1900/1200**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Ruby Gem Pup Token] (Fire/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M3 - ****Iron Fan Fighter – Wind/Warrior/4/1800/1300**: When [Steel Fan Fighter] is successfully tribute summoned while this card is on the Field, special summon [Bamboo Fan Fighter] from your deck to the Field.

**M4 - ****Steel Fan Fighter – Wind/Warrior/6/2200/1850**

**M5 - ****Bamboo Fan Fighter – Wind/Warrior/4/1700/900**: Effect: This monster gets the following effect(s) while there is a monster(s) with the following name(s) on the field:

- Iron Fan Fighter: Once per turn, select one Equipment Spell card with [Fan] or [Harisen] in its name from your deck and add it to your Hand.

- Steel Fan Fighter: This card can attack twice during battle phase.

**M6 - ****Gratia Gem Dragon – Light/Rock/7/2700/2200**: Effect: Increase this card's ATK by 300 for each Rock type Monster on all Fields. For each Monster that this card destroys and send it to the Graveyard as a result of Battle, do 300 points of damage to your opponent.

**M7 - ****Topaz Gem Dragon – Earth/Rock/4/1600/1500**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Topaz Gem Pup Token] (Earth/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M8 - ****Sapphire Gem Dragon – Water/Rock/4/1700/1400**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Sapphire Gem Pup Token] (Water/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M9 - ****Emerald Gem Dragon – Wind/Rock/4/1800/1300**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Emerald Gem Pup Token] (Wind/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**T1 - ****Tessenjutsu – Tengu's Teachings – Trap**: You can only activate this card when there's a monster that includes [Fan Fighter] in its card name on the field. Equip one equipment spell card with [Fan] in its name to a monster with [Fan Fighter] in it.

**T2 - ****Tessenjutsu – Gum Loong Sin – Continuous Trap**: You can only activate this card when there's a monster that includes [Fan Fighter] in its card name on the Field. Monsters that includes [Fan Fighter] in its card name cannot be destroyed by effects of spell or trap card. If there are no monster that includes [Fan Fighter] in its card name on the Field, destroy this card.

**T3 - ****G-Force – Trap**: You can activate this card when an opponent's monster attacks. Select 1 monster that includes [Gem Dragon] in its card name in your hand. An opponent's attacking monster and a monster in your hand with [Gem Dragon] in its name will battle. (The monster with [Gem Dragon] in your hand is treated as if it were in attack mode at this time.) The results of the battle and Damage Calculations are treated in the same way as a normal battle. After battle, return the selected monster back to your Hand.

**T4 - ****Rock Bombardment – Trap**: Choose 1 Rock Sub-Type Monster from your deck and send it to the Graveyard. Do 500 damage to your opponent's Life Points. Afterward, shuffle your deck.

**T5 – ****Gem Set – Trap: **When a [Gem Dragon] in its name is destroyed as a result of battle on your side of the field, select 1 Lv.4 or lower monster with [Gem Dragon] in its name from your deck and special summon it to the Field in whatever mode you choose.

**S1 - ****Tai Chi Fans – Equipment Spell**: You can only equip this card to a monster that includes [Fan Fighter] in its card name. When the equipped monster is selected as an attack target, negate that attack and inflict damage to your opponent equals to the original attack of the monster that attacked the equipped monster.

**S2 - ****Pot of Greed – Spell**: Draw two cards from your deck.

**S3 - ****Iron Harisen – Equipment Spell**: You can only equip this card to a monster that includes [Fan Fighter] in its card name. It gains 500 ATK. When the equipped monster attacks an opposing monster, send that monster back to your opponent's hand at the end of the damage step.

**S4 - ****Graceful Charity – Spell**: Draw three cards from your deck and then discard two cards from your hand.

**S5 - ****M-Force – Quick-play spell**: Increase the ATK of 1 monster that includes [Gem Dragon] in its card name by 500 points. When the monster targetted by this card's effect attacks with an ATK higher than the DEF of your opponent's Defense Position monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. This effect lasts until the End Phase of the activated turn.

**S6 - ****Tessenjutsu – Iron Bridge Hand – Quick-play spell**: You can only activate this card when an Attack Position monster on your side of the field that includes [Fan Fighter] in its card name is selected as an attack target. The selected monster cannot be destroyed as a result of battle. The results of the battle and Damage Calculations are treated in the same way as a normal battle.

**S7 - ****Gust Fan – Equipment Spell**: A WIND monster equipped with this card increases its ATK by 400 points and decreases its DEF by 200 points.

**S8 - ****Tessenjutsu – Fei Loong Sin – Continuous Spell**: This card can only activate this card when there's a monster that includes [Fan Fighter] in its name on the Field. When your monster is about to be destroyed as the result of battle, negate it once. Your monsters cannot attack the same turn this effect activated.

**S9 - ****Gem Guidance – Spell**: If there are 2 or more [Gem Pup Token] on your Field. Special Summon 1 Lv. 4 or lower [Gem Dragon] monster from your Deck.

**S10 - ****Rare Value – Spell**: When there are 2 or more [Gem Pup tokens] in your Field, randomly select 1 and remove it from the Field and draw 2 cards from your Deck.

**S11 - ****Monster Reincarnation – Spell**: Discard 1 card. Add 1 Monster Card from your Graveyard to your hand.

**S12 - ****E-Force – Quick-play Spell**: Select 1 [Gem Pup Token] and remove it from the Field. Select one monster with [Gem Dragon] in its card name from your Graveyard and Special Summon it.

**S13 - ****Gem Burst – Spell**: To activate this card, remove 1 copy of [G-Force], [E-Force], and [M-Force] in your Graveyard from play. After the activation of this card, activate the following effect after this card is sent to the Graveyard. You can send as many cards that include [Gem Dragon] in their card names from your Field. Inflict 600 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points for each [Gem Pup token] in your Field.


	14. 8A: Dance Dance Duel Revolution!

**Author's note: **Another chapter I wrote before. So a quick update. It won't be long before I get slower updates as I write new chapters. Also, this is another filler episode! I know what you're all thinking, another filler? Hey, GX is full of fillers, probably half of 1st two seasons are fillers. Thank you to **Lux-Nero** for his filler character and his cards. Also shout out to **Boogiepop **and **Lonelyghost **for being such cool reviewers.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! And credit goes to GLL99 for subs of GX episode 9.

**

* * *

Episode 8 Part A – Dance Dance Duel Revolution! **

Out in the sea near the famous Duel Academia, there was a thick fog covering the waters. Captains and sailors knew that only foolish people would go out in this weather. But on that sea, there was a single canoe with a rower and a very muscular passenger. It was clear that the passenger was Hayato's father who came to pick up his son.

At the cliff of Duel Academia, Judai was lying on the grass while cooled by a shade provided by a nearby tree. He smiled, "Boy, that was a nice breeze…" he was completely relaxed, "This is my very own spot."

"Aniki!" A fellow Osiris Red's voice interrupted his rest.

Judai opened his eyes and quickly sat up. He noticed Sho running up to him, "How'd you know about this place?"

"How?" Sho repeated and then stated the obvious, "You're almost always hanging around here, Aniki."

"The heck?" Judai was a little stunned, "It's that obvious?"

Sho rose his index finger in gesture of knowing common facts, "Everyone knows." Sho put his finger down, "But I didn't come here to tell you that. Aniki, something horrible has happened!"

"What is it? What happened?"

Sho clenched his fists in great angst, "Hayato-kun…might be getting expelled!"

Judai yelled, "Huh? Hayato expelled?"

* * *

Enough of what was happening at Duel Academia, the events were broadcasted on TV anyway. Back at South Duel Academy, rumors were already spreading around the dormitories, rumors of Tsubaki's victory against Yumi, one of the top claimed Osiris Red duelists. Of course, those rumors only spread throughout the Osiris Red dorms instead of Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue since it was no concern of their of what the lower grades were doing. And since the Osiris Red duelists were the lowest grades, rumors between Osiris Red duelists unfortunately never last long.

At the cafeteria, the usual hangout for Osiris Red students and possibly the only building not floating on the ocean water like the dorm huts, Tsubaki, one of the duelists in the rumors, collapsed on his plastic chair, groaning to himself, "Man, so much for the popularity." He let his chin touched the table while he frowned.

Izumi, a female Osiris Red Duelist and a friend of Tsubaki, sat in a chair nearby him and set down her lunch tray. She stated, "Well, what do you expect? We, Osiris Red students, are not that great in the rankings of students of Duel Academy. You can't expect to be popular as that certain guy."

Tsubaki raised his head and clenched his right fist as he shouted with white demonic eyes and razor sharp teeth, "That certain guy only beat few duelists!" He pointed to the third person sitting in their table dramatically. The third person was Kurai, the notorious Osiris Red Duelist and also the only Osiris Red Duelist that Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue Duelists talked about. Kurai was merely eating grilled fish, the daily everyday meal of Osiris Red, sadly.

Izumi swayed her head and pointed out, "Those few duelists were really strong opponents. He beat the Professor, Domon, and Shadow. He even fought Hyun-Ki, one of the Obelisk Blues."

Tsubaki groaned as his head slowly dropped down to the table. He glared at Kurai slightly, "I bet you're enjoying your glory, aren't you?"

Kurai just shrugged as he resumed eating his lunch.

Tsubaki twitched slightly, "Stupid bastard." He stood up abruptly and suggested, "Come on, Izumi! Today's our day off, let's practice Dueling!"

"Ah, no, I don't think so." Izumi answered bluntly, causing Tsubaki to fall down.

Tsubaki quickly stood up and shouted, "What the hell? You don't want to duel?" He asked the question to Izumi in a tone as he couldn't believe his ears.

Izumi twitched as she recognized that tone, "I know that tone!" She crossed her arms, "Do you honestly expect everyone here in Duel Academy would spend all their times dueling?"

Tsubaki stated as it was the most obvious thing, "Well, duh…that's why you go to Duel Academy…because everyone like to duel…"

Izumi sweat-dropped as Tsubaki was admittedly right, "That's…true…but, that's not the point! I do love Duel Monsters, enough to join the Duel Academy but not that much to the point when I need to spend free times on Dueling! That's boring!"

Tsubaki gasped dramatically as Izumi said a horrible thing. He clenched his fists and yelled, "How…how could you say that dueling is boring? That's like saying sports are boring! You can't insult sports! Right, Yuki!" He looked at Kurai for support.

Kurai looked at Tsubaki as he was an idiot, then he purposely looked away. He drank green tea, "Dueling with weak opponents are boring."

Tsubaki stared at Kurai with offended face, "That's cruel, Yuki. Downright cruel, you know that?"

Izumi defended, "I'm not saying that dueling is boring! I'm just saying that Dueling 24/7 can be a bit tedious and boring…and sports sound like a good idea…"

Tsubaki groaned at Izumi's heightened interest in sports, "We played sports in P.E. all the time anyway."

Izumi complained, "Well, there must be something to do with free time besides dueling!"

"There's always homework." A familiar voice suggested.

Izumi and Tsubaki, who grew accustomed to their friendly neighbor, Alexander, looked at him as he was being a moron. Izumi groaned, "You're kidding, right?"

Tsubaki agreed, "Yeah, I mean who want to spend their free times doing homework anyway."

Alexander chuckled, "Well, for starters, people who doesn't want to stress and break out at the last minute, of course."

Tsubaki declared proudly, "Well, we're last minute doers!" An arrow pointed to Kurai titling "He always finished his homework first." Tsubaki kicked the labeling arrow aside, "Who cares about you!"

Izumi looked at Alexander with hopeful eyes, "Hey, Alex, do you know anything else we can do with our free time?"

Alexander put his hand under his chin as he was pondering, "Well, beside the sports center, there's an underground arcade."

Izumi blinked as she never heard of it, "An underground arcade?"

"An underground arcade?" Tsubaki asked, "That sound cool! Take us there, Alex!"

Alexander bowed, "It'll be my pleasure."

Izumi glanced at Kurai, "Wanna come with us, Yuki?"

Kurai responded by standing up and yawned to himself as he walked away.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "I guess Yuki just wanted to rest…"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Man, what a lazy duelist." That comment deserved him a well-aimed tossed tea cup directly at his forehead, causing poor Tsubaki to fall down on the ground.

Izumi sweat-dropped as she felt sorry for poor Tsubaki. She sighed and shrugged, "Oh, Tsubaki, when you will ever learn?"

* * *

Minutes later, Alexander led them directly to the Duel Academy.

Izumi blinked with slight confusion, "It's inside the Duel Academy? I thought the Duel Academy is full of classrooms, card store, and dueling stages..."

Alexander chuckled, "Izumi, what's the name of the place I'm going to take you to?"

Izumi remembered, "The underground arcade…." She realized, "Oh, it must be underground!"

Alexander chuckled out of amusement, "Correct, Izumi, the underground arcade is right below the Duel Academy." He led them to a nearby elevator and they walked inside it.

Tsubaki pointed out as he noticed there was no button for underground level, "How come we never heard of it or even notice it?"

Alexander took out his PDA and let the elevator computer scanned it. Once it completed scanning, the elevator descended. He explained, "Actually, it's because the underground arcade is only accessible to Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue. Osiris Red cannot enter the underground arcade unless invited by the upper grade."

Tsubaki complained, "Eh? How come, we Osiris Reds, don't get to go to the arcade ourselves?"

Alexander smiled, "I guess it's because you guys need to do your homework or study all the time instead of playing around."

Tsubaki groaned, "I knew I should have studied more for the entrance exam and get into Ra Yellow."

Izumi looked downward and sighed out of disappointment, "I would have been in Ra Yellow if I haven't missed the exam…" She titled her face up with a smile, "But then again, if I wasn't in Osiris Red, I wouldn't have meet Tsubaki or Yuki, my two best friends."

"Izumi…" Tsubaki rubbed the back of his head as he blushed out of embarrassment, "…that's kinda corny…"

Izumi smacked Tsubaki as she felt insulted, "What were you saying?"

Tsubaki quickly defended himself, "Nothing!"

The elevator stopped its movement as it finally reached its destination. The doors slid open, revealing rays of colorful lights given away by video games. Both Osiris Reds gaped at the amazing variety of video games and range of colorful lights, "Woah."

Alexander smiled as he showed them in, "Welcome to the underground arcade."

Tsubaki couldn't contain his excitement and exclaimed, "This is so frigging awesome!" He ran around, looking at random video games. Of course, there were other Duelists here, having fun with other games.

Izumi chuckled, "Tsubaki acts like a kid."

Alexander smiled and then asked, "Is this what you're looking for?"

Izumi looked around and then replied, "Well, it is something different to do…but it's not what I have in mind for…"

Alexander chuckled, "The underground arcade is quite large. Why don't we explore first?"

"Alright! That sound like a plan to me!" Izumi cheered. She quickly found Tsubaki and yelled, "Tsubaki! We're going to go explore! Are you coming or not?"

"Sure!" Tsubaki shouted back and he quickly ran up to them. They started their exploration first with the video game arcades area and eventually, they reached other areas such as the famous dueling stage used in the Duelist Kingdom sponsored by Pegasus. Tsubaki stared at the dueling stage with disbelief and excitement in the eyes. He shouted, "Oh my God! This is the Dueling Stage used in the Duelist Kingdom! That is so freaking cool! It's very first model to create holographic Duel Monsters!" He jumped up and down like a little boy, couldn't hold in his excitement.

Izumi gaped, "Woah…the first model?...Wow….duel disks certainly come a long way from this…So why is it here?"

Alexander pointed to two duelists dueling each other now, "Oh just for fun, since there are oldies that preferred to use old methods of playing Duel Monsters…"

Tsubaki overheard it and glanced back at Alexander, "You mean, you can actually play Duel Monsters in that stage?" Alexander nodded, "Cool! I always want to stand on top of those things!"

Izumi rolled her eyes, "Something tells me that duelists just wanted to use the Duelist Kingdom stages just because they wanted to feel tall."

Alexander laughed at her comment, "That could be true."

They had to drag Tsubaki away from the Duelist Kingdom dueling stage in order to explore other areas of the underground arcade.

Tsubaki whistled, "Man, this arcade is very large…that is expected of a place right below the Duel Academy…"

Izumi sighed out of boredom, "But even after all this stuff, I still don't feel the excitement…"

"Then what kind of excitement are you looking for?" Tsubaki asked annoyingly.

Izumi frowned at his tone and replied, "You don't need to tag along, you know…" Then suddenly, she heard an upbeat music. She gasped as she turned abruptly toward the music, "That music…"

"The music?" Tsubaki blinked before he narrowed his ears and tried hard to hear, "It's some kind of upbeat…techno music…"

Alexander smiled, "It's quite catching."

Tsubaki crossed his arms, "I felt like I heard this music before…Hey, Izumi, what is this music?" He blinked, "Izumi?" He only noticed labeling blocks that indicated that she was here but she disappeared, "Where did she go?"

Izumi was running through the arcade, forgetting to apologize to random students that she accidentally bumped on the way. She only had one thing on her mind, 'That music…I know that music…it can only be one thing!' As she ran more, the music she heard became louder with each step she took further. When she finally reached her destination, her eyes was assaulted with brighter and more colorful lights than the previous arcades and her ears with the booming sounds of the music she just heard. Her eyes widened in great shock and her mouth opened wide in utter amazement. She gained her momentum as she jumped forward to the source of her amazement and yelled the name, "DDR!"

Izumi jumped so high that she seemed like that she was going to hug a machine, "DDR!" She suddenly collapsed on something and felt that she hugged something soft and warm unlike a cold steel machine, "Eh?" She looked up and saw a good-looking face of a boy with black headphones over his large brown spiky hair. She sweat-dropped as she realized that she just fell on someone who could be possibly using the Dance Dance Revolution machine, "Opps…"

The boy's face expressed confusion and then quickly turned into a scowl, "Will you get off me?"

"Ah! Sorry!" Izumi quickly got off the boy and gained a better look of him. The spiky haired boy was wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform but different from the Obelisk Blue uniform that she knew, 'This uniform…it doesn't look like it's from this Academy…'

The boy got up himself and brushed the dust off his back. Izumi tried to strike a conversation with him, "You like DDR too?" Although the answer was obvious because the boy was playing on the DDR machine.

The boy looked at Izumi as she was a strange girl and nodded.

Izumi smiled with great awe and exclaimed, "I love DDR too! I really really love DDR, possibly more than dueling!"

The boy blinked, "You love DDR more than dueling?"

Izumi nodded, "Uh-huh!" She remembered, "Oh I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Izumi Kitamori!" She put her first name before her surname since it's American custom.

The boy looked at her strangely again as he didn't expect her to be this way. He didn't really expect a student of the Duel Academy to treat him so friendly. He replied, "Wolx. My name is Wolx."

"Wolx! A pleasure to meet you!" Izumi offered her hand, "Sorry about the rough greeting," she joked, "I couldn't contain my excitement for DDR."

Wolx chuckled, "Heh." He found her strange but slightly amusing. He shook her hand.

Izumi smiled, "And so my next question is, are you any good at DDR?"

Wolx scoffed, "Of course." The DDR machine activated and the techno music started playing. The metallic pads on the floor started to glow. Wolx began to move his feet around. The music started to become faster-paced and catchier with numerous beats. That was Wolx displayed his awesome moves that impressed Izumi. Even the music stopped playing and the screen showed double A's for his impressive movements.

Izumi gasped with amazement, "That's incredible!" She clapped her hands, "You're like a master DDR player!"

Wolx rubbed the back of his head out of embarrassment, "Not really, I just like to dance…"

Izumi smiled, "So do I! If possible, I love dancing more than dueling!" Her turn came up and of course, she quickly chose one of her favorite songs and started dancing to the beats. Since she's not an expert like Wolx, she easily made some mistakes now and then. By the time the song stopped playing; Izumi received "C" on her dance steps. Izumi laughed softly, "I'm not quite good yet."

Wolx just selected another song on the DDR machine.

"Wolx?" Izumi asked softly in worries that Wolx might be mad at her.

Wolx looked at her and offered, "I'll teach you."

Izumi's eyes widened out of great shock and she beamed up with happiness. She cheered, "Yay!"

* * *

Hours passed and the sun began to set. The day was almost over and almost every duelist in the underground arcade already returned to their dorms.

"Izumi! Izumi!" Tsubaki yelled her name as he walked around in search for his friend. He sighed disappointedly, "Where did she go? She just mysteriously vanished ever since she heard that music."

"It was an interesting music." Alexander smiled.

Tsubaki glared slightly at Alexander, "You know something about that music, didn't you?"

Alexander smiled with closed eyes, "Well, of course."

Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched as he continued, "And knowing you, you're not going to tell me, right?"

Alexander smiled more, "Of course."

Tsubaki snapped, "Argh! Do you have to be such a sadistic freak?"

Alexander chuckled, "Calm down, Tsubaki. I wouldn't worry since I know Izumi is going to come back to us."

Tsubaki's anger immediately quelled, "She is?"

"Hey!" Right on time, Izumi's voice grabbed the boys' attention. Both boys glanced at her direction and saw Izumi running up to them. Izumi finally reached them and panted as she ran all the way here. She laughed slightly, "Sorry, guys, I didn't see the time."

"Where the hell were you?" Tsubaki chided, "We've been looking all over for you!"

Izumi laughed softly, "Sorry again! I didn't notice the time."

Alexander smiled, "I take it that you have fun?"

Izumi stopped laughed and smiled back, "Yeah, I did."

Tsubaki looked at her strangely, "You finally have fun at our free day, huh? What do you play?"

Izumi grinned, "DDR!"

Tsubaki stared at her with confusion, "DDR?..." He then remembered, "Oh! That weird dance pad game!"

Izumi smacked him, "It's not weird! It's the most wonderful invention ever that entered the video game world!"

"Ouch!" Tsubaki stepped away from Izumi's hits, "I didn't mean to insult it! I didn't know any better name for it!"

Izumi exclaimed, "It's Dance Dance Revolution!"

Tsubaki rubbed his poor head where Izumi smacked, "No wonder the music sounded familiar to me…I heard it all the time in arcades back in New York…"

Izumi shrilled out of happiness, "I know! I used to play DDR all the time in the arcade! It's the greatest thing!"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped as he found Izumi's happy reactions weird, "I take it that this is the one you felt like doing it instead of dueling."

Izumi grinned, "Yep!"

Tsubaki groaned slightly, "I don't understand your taste at all."

Izumi's eyes shone brightly as she clenched her fist and declared, "Now that I found DDR! I'm going to play it everyday!"

Tsubaki was taken aback, "You're that obsessed with DDR?"

Alexander smiled, "But shouldn't you study?"

Izumi's eyes shone with stars as her determination glowed, "Screw studies, I'm going to master DDR!"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped as he couldn't believe his eyes, "Izumi is officially a DDR freak…"

Izumi smiled, "Plus Wolx is going to help me master it!"

"Wolx?" Tsubaki raised his left eye questionably, "Who the hell is Wolx?"

Izumi declared with excitement, "Wolx is the master of DDR! He's incredible dancer and he's going to teach me all the secret cool moves!"

Tsubaki blinked, "Um okay…and his status as duelist?" He looked at Alexander for answer.

Alexander smiled as he expected that, "Wolx is German duelist and transferred from North Duel Academy."

"The North Duel Academy?" Izumi realized, "No wonder Wolx's uniform was different from us."

Tsubaki crossed his arms, "So since you see him, what grade is he?"

Izumi answered, "He's Obelisk Blue!"

Tsubaki groaned as he rolled his eyes, "Another lucky bastard."

"Actually," Alexander stated, "Wolx is supposed to be Osiris Red."

Izumi blinked in surprise, "He is? But he wore a blue uniform. Isn't blue an Obelisk's color?"

Alexander nodded, "It is. Wolx is an Obelisk Blue student from North Duel Academy until something happened that led him to transferal to our Duel Academy and depromotion to Osiris Red."

"He was depromoted to Osiris Red?" Izumi urged, "What on earth happened on North Duel Academy?"

Alexander pondered hard as he put his hand under his chin. From the look of his reaction, the duelists could see that he was thinking incredibly hard. Alexander smiled, "I don't know."

Both Izumi and Tsubaki fell down. Tsubaki twitched as he quickly got up, "Then don't act like you actually know!"

Alexander laughed, "Since I don't know, you should ask Wolx himself."

Izumi clenched her fist, "I should!" She smiled slightly, "after I learned the cool secret moves from him."

Tsubaki fall down.

* * *

The next day was sadly school day but that didn't dampen Izumi's excitement. She made a promise to Wolx that she would meet with him after school every day in the underground arcade to practice DDR moves. Following her passion for dancing and DDR, she couldn't contain her excitement. As soon as school was over, Izumi met up with Wolx in front of the elevator, "Wolx!"

Wolx heard her call and glanced at Izumi. He slightly waved his hand in greetings.

They quickly entered the elevator and Wolx took out his PDA, letting the elevator computer scanned it. Izumi blinked slightly and asked, "Say, Wolx?"

"Hmm?" Wolx looked back at Izumi away from the computer screen.

"Don't want to be rude but I'm kinda curious…" Izumi asked, "If you're Osiris Red, how do you manage to get into the underground arcade?"

Wolx replied, "Simple, I just used my old PDA record from North Duel Academy…I guess you finally know then?"

"You mean about how you came from North Duel Academy and got depromoted from Obelisk Blue to Osiris Red?" Izumi asked, "Yeah…I did…"

Wolx was silent for few seconds and then looked back at the computer screen that showed acceptance of Wolx's PDA, "Then you probably heard the rumors about me." The elevator descended.

"Rumors?" Izumi questioned as she never heard of rumors.

Wolx answered, "You know…such as how I am an arrogant cocky bastard for wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform when I should be wearing Osiris Red uniform and random crap of what I did to deserve a depromotion."

Izumi blinked naively and replied, "I don't think you're what the rumors said. As for the uniform, you just choose what you want to wear. There's nothing bad about it. Beside," She smiled, "You're another person I know who loves DDR."

Wolx's eyes widened slightly in surprise. He commented, "You're different from the others."

Izumi pouted slightly, "Is that a bad thing?"

Wolx scoffed, "It's a good thing."

* * *

For the past coming week, Wolx and Izumi became closer friends than before. Wolx taught her all the dance moves he knew that was suitable for DDR. Izumi couldn't offer anything except many praises for Wolx's incredible skills. Easily influenced by cute girls, Wolx just secretly love the praises coming from Izumi. Unknowing to Izumi, the young teenage male was slowly developing a crush on her. Who could blame Wolx? Izumi was probably one of the few Duelists that didn't hate him for who he is and what he wears. But Wolx was extremely shy and could never ask her out. Instead he was rather happy spending times alone with her with the DDR machine after school every day.

On the last day of the week, the sun was already setting and the arcade was at its final hour before closing time. After hours of practicing dance moves on the DDR pad, Izumi sighed out of great relief as she collapsed on the dance pad, taking a huge break. She cheered, "That was a rush!"

Wolx sat down on the opposite dance pad next to Izumi, sweating all over like Izumi but panting less than her. He just nodded as he continued to pant.

"Hey, Wolx." Izumi called.

"Hmm?" Wolx glanced at Izumi.

Izumi continued, "You're such a good dancer. You could seriously have a future in it…so why are you at the Duel Academy?"

Wolx was silent and he averted his look away from Izumi.

Izumi felt that she offended him and immediately apologized, "Sorry! I didn't mean to intrude."

"It's not a bother," Wolx replied, "….it was family pressure."

"Family pressure?" Izumi questioned.

Wolx sighed, "My father and my older sister are pro duelists. So there's lot of expectations for me. I was then forced to attend the North Duel Academy and I loathed every minute I stayed there. Of course, I eventually got in trouble with the professors and classmates and that just made me hate the Academy even more. In fact, it was because I hate North Duel Academy…I began to hate Duel monsters." He took out his deck, "Until my mother came to visit me and handed this deck to me. I didn't touch it for a month until the mess in my room forced me to clean. It made look through my mother's deck and I saw that the cards presented something I truly love." He smiled softly.

"Dance?" Izumi asked.

Wolx nodded, "So I duel with this deck…and I had some fun…" He sweat-dropped, "Then again, my father threatened me, saying that if I don't duel, he would throw away my ."

"Ah." Izumi sweat-dropped too but she smiled as she felt kin with Wolx, "I had the same feeling as you. My older sister is a Pro Duelist too. I was jealous at first because I always support her in so many ways when I was younger but now…she doesn't need me to help her. Her action made me wondered why Duel Monsters is so interesting…I asked my sister for her answer and all she did is sent me a deck…a deck filled with my interests…so I decided to try this deck out and I actually have fun with it…"

"…..so, we are alike…" Wolx muttered to himself.

"Huh?" Izumi asked.

Wolx replied nervously, "Um…nothing…"

"Well, aren't you two getting close?" A familiar voice reached Izumi's ears.

Izumi recognized the voice and quickly looked up to see her friends, "Tsubaki! Alexander!" She blinked in surprise, "And Yuki?"

Tsubaki smiled as he waved, "Surprise…Yuki, here, actually wants to see you."

Kurai punched him down to the ground.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "It was a joke! Lighten up!"

Alexander laughed, "Actually, he's here out of curiosity to see what the underground arcade is like."

Izumi sweat-dropped as she felt sorry for Tsubaki and did expect Kurai to be here for himself instead of others, "Of course." She still smiled, "So, what do you think, Yuki?"

Kurai replied dully, "It's boring."

Tsubaki rolled his eyes, "Why do I know that you're going to say that, cold-hearted stiff?" That insult earned him a Duel Monster card that stabbed him in the forehead. Tsubaki screamed as blood poured out of his forehead.

Alexander blinked slightly in surprise, "I always wonder how could a Duel Monster card can actually cut something."

The narrator crossed his arms, "Yeah, I want to know why too! But then, I remember why." He clenched his fist and declared the reason, "It's anime! Anyone can do anything! Plus Kaiba did it before, so there!"

The Duelists completely ignored the Narrator.

The narrator sulked in the corner, "Nobody appreciates me at all."

Wolx's eyes widened in surprise as he thought to himself, _'Izumi is friend with Alexander? One of the top Obelisk Blue duelists and a member of the Von Schroeder family? And the other guy is Kurai Yuki! The infamous Osiris Red duelist…She knew these guys?'_

Tsubaki quickly got up with a well-placed bandage on his forehead and frowned, "I felt ignored…as I was not important yet and some useless duelist."

Kurai crossed his arms, "Hmph, you are."

Tsubaki twitched and glared as he clenched his fist, "I dare you to say that again."

Izumi sweat-dropped as she ran up to them and stood between two duelists, "Come on, guys, let's not fight…I know…" She averted her head toward Yuki with excitement in her eyes, "How about we all play DDR?"

Tsubaki whined, "Not DDR! I want to duel!"

Izumi retorted, "You duel everyday! How about you, Yuki? Let's play DDR!"

Kurai looked away, "As much as it disgusts me to say this…I actually agree with the hot-headed moron."

Alexander smirked as he pointed out, "A miracle! Yuki and Tsubaki actually agreed on something and that is the dislike for DDR."

Tsubaki glared, "Oh shut up!"

Izumi gaped, "You guys are cruel! DDR is fun!"

Wolx could see that Izumi was very close to them. He could see that Izumi mostly glanced at Kurai and that made him jealous inside. He finally found someone that he can relate to and he's not going to lose that someone to some hot-shot. He immediately stood up and pointed to Kurai, "Kurai Yuki, I challenge you to a Duel Monster Duel!"

The other Duelists suddenly stopped chatting and stared at Wolx in surprise. Actually, Alexander just smiled and Kurai just glared.

Izumi was surprised and questioned, "Wolx?"

Kurai narrowed his amber eyes and demanded, "Why?"

Wolx blushed slightly and declared, "It's because I like Izumi!"

Tsubaki gaped, "EHHHH?"

Izumi gasped, "EH? Wolx, you like me? When did that happen? And why is that related to dueling Yuki?"

Wolx crossed his arms, "Don't deny it. I can tell you have the hots for him."

Tsubaki gasped as he looked at Izumi dramatically, "You actually like Yuki?"

Izumi twitched, "NO! That's like saying I love my older sister as lover!" She glared at Wolx, "Where the hell you get that idea?"

Wolx explained, "You gave special looks to Yuki."

Tsubaki gasped again, "You gave special looks to Yuki!"

Izumi twitched again, "I have no idea what special looks are! So stop assuming things!" She roared at Tsubaki.

Tsuabki paled and then saluted, "Yes, ma'am."

Kurai was slightly taken aback from Wolx's immediate confession and felt completely annoyed with the whole situation. He rolled his eyes and growled, "No thanks, I'm not going to spend time on pitiful stuff."

Wolx glared, "What's wrong, Yuki? Afraid that you'll lose to me?"

Kurai looked back at Wolx and smirked, "Why should I be afraid? There's no way I'm going to lose to a duelist who wants mushy romance crap."

Wolx's glare intensified, "Take that back!" He continued, "If I win this duel, I get to take Izumi out on a date! If I lose, then I'll back off!"

"Wait a minute!" Izumi pointed her finger threateningly at Wolx, "Don't put my interests on the line! I didn't even like Yuki like that way and you just immediately confessed to me out of nowhere? Have you guys ever heard of giving a girl space to comprehend all this?"

Kurai glared, "This is your fault. You should duel instead of me."

"Eh?" Izumi blinked in surprise.

Alexander smiled, "Yuki and Izumi brought up a good point. Since it is Izumi's love life on the line here…"

Izumi complained, "I don't have a love life!"

Alexander smiled as he continued, "Izumi should duel instead."

Wolx agreed, "Fine then. But if I win against Izumi, I get to duel against Yuki!" He glared at Kurai, who simply looked away annoyed with everything.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Somehow, this situation felt similar to my and Yumi's duel…"

Izumi groaned out of frustration and rubbed her head, "How did it become like this?"

**

* * *

TBC**

**P.S. **I was going to have Lisa and Vanessa, the troublemaker duo, Rad, and even the professors for comedy but this chapter was getting way too long for part 1.


	15. 8B: Dance Dance Duel Revolution!

**Author's note: **We now have a picture of Kurai Yuki! If you wanna see his picture, go check out my profile. Non-colored though but colored version will be up soon. Also from now on, I won't add card effects for common cards that duelists used all the time like Pot of Greed and Call of Haunted. I hope you like this duel and don't hate me because of the end, lol. Also, please tell me what you think of Kurai's picture lol.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! Credit goes to Lux-Nero for Wolx and his deck. Credit also goes to GLL99 for subs of GX episode 9.

**

* * *

EPISODE 8 PART B**

Izumi appeared on the screen with Card Castor Lilac behind her equipped with the Magical Pink Staff. The Yugioh GX logo appeared on the bottom right corner.

Izumi blinked as she stared at herself on the screen, "Huh?...So it's Card Castor Lilac…at least, it's an improvement from before."

The narrator replied, "I don't see what's wrong with the Unhappy Maiden. As for the Card Castor Lilac, well you'll be using her a lot!" He put his hands on his waist, feeling very proud of his creation.

Izumi blinked again and questioned, "But isn't Card Castor Lilac based on Card Cap…"

"AHH!" The narrator interrupted her, "Don't say that name! That name has copyright protection!"

Izumi narrowed her eyes as she gave the narrator suspicious look, "So it was based on that anime…and you act like it was your original creation." She twitched.

The narrator sweat-dropped and laughed nervously, "Let's just move on with the story already!"

* * *

Deep inside the underground arcade located right below the Duel Academy, a duel was about to begin. Instead of using Duel Disks, the two Duelists decided to use a much older model, the famous Duelist Kingdom hologram system. This particular model was the size of a tennis court, with a Duel Field surrounded by two large stands for Duelists to play their cards.

Izumi sighed as the lift elevator took her atop of the blue stand, "How did this happen? How can I not even notice that guy has a crush on me? What kind of a girl am I?"

The narrator answered innocently, "A tomboy?"

Izumi punched the narrator and sent him flying until there was a ting in the sky.

Izumi ignored the invisible distraction and glanced at her opponent, a boy wearing the North Duel Academy Obelisk Blue uniform standing atop of the red stand shuffling his deck. Izumi looked down with slight sorrow in her eyes, _'Actually, it's because…I never really thought about love…Sure, I'm a normal high school girl but I never think of being in a relationship…all I think about was…catching up with my older sister…' _Her eyes narrowed with fighting spirit, _'Come on, Izumi, this is just destiny's way of testing your resolve. If I lose, I'll probably be in relationship…plus he's not that bad…but I want to become stronger.'_

Wolx put down his deck on the Deck slot of his tall stand, "You're ready?"

Izumi nodded, "Yeah." She put her deck down too.

Both Duelists yelled, "DUEL!"

Wolx drew five cards from his deck and offered, "Ladies first."

Izumi commented silently, _'This guy might not be bad…he's silent but nice and polite…' _She declared, "Thanks. Draw!" She drew the sixth card. She glanced at her hand, _'Beside…it can't be that bad…since Wolx is Osiris Red duelist, right?' _She slammed one card horizontally on the duel map, "I summon Maiden of the Moonlight [**M1 (4/1500/1300)**] in defense!" A moonlight shone upon the field and suddenly a beautiful woman materialized in the spotlight. She had silk brown bob hair cut and dressed in long fitted white robe. She had angel wings with dark brown bracelets with golden pins around. She crouched with her wings as shield in defense. Izumi selected another card and placed it face down on the map, "Then I put one card face down and I end my turn."

Tsubaki was watching the duel from the sides and asked, "Hey, do you think Izumi has a chance against this guy?"

Alexander just smiled with his eyes closed, "Hmm who knows? I never see those two fight before."

Kurai just yawned out of boredom and pondered why the hell he was here in the first place.

Tsubaki questioned, "So there is a possibility that Izumi will lose?"

Izumi twitched and snapped, "I'm not going to lose!"

"Draw!" Wolx declared as he drew his card. He quickly selected one card from his hand and slammed it on the Duel map, "I summon Street Tune Brawler **[M2 (4/1850/1400)**] in attack mode!" Techno music started playing in the background as a young man with white sleeveless shirt and grayish black cargo pants arrived to the Field. His eyes were hidden in the shadow of his beanie hat with skull on it and he wore gray headphones over his ears.

Izumi blinked in surprise and asked, "A DDR monster?"

Tsubaki commented, "Man, he's really a DDR freak after all…and what's with the techno music intro?"

Alexander smiled, "I think it's quite catchy."

Tsubaki rolled his eyes, "Of course. Why am I not surprised?"

Wolx played another card from his hand, "Then I play an Equipment magic card, Music Encore! [**S1**] His magic card quickly appeared on the Field with an image of teenage crowds clapping to a break dancer, "I equipped this card to Street Tune Brawler, increasing its attack points by 350!" Right on cue, there was the sound of loud applause and cheers as Street Tune Brawler glowed, indicating that he just became stronger. [**Street Tune Brawler: 1850 + 350 = 2200**]

Wolx smirked proudly as he crossed his arms, "And that's not the only effect the magic card has."

Izumi gaped at a monster with an attack power above 2000. She gulped and asked with slight hesitation, "What is the other effect?"

"You'll see," Wolx uncrossed his arms and pointed his right index finger dramatically at Izumi's white-dressed maiden, "Street Tune Brawler, attack Maiden of the Moonlight with your killer move!" The male dancer nodded as he obeyed his master's order. He suddenly dashed forward and as soon as he was within reach of Izumi's monster, he leapt forward and landed on his hands. He then stood upside down vertically and spun his legs in a rapid circle. His metal-plated shoes hit the maiden's face cheek roughly, causing her to fall and shattered as she reached the floor.

Izumi groaned slightly as she used her right arm to shield herself from the flying shattered pieces of her monster. She put her arm down and shouted, "Even if you did destroy my monster, no damage will occur to me because she was in defense mode!" She felt proud that she didn't make the same mistake that she did in her previous duel with Shizuka.

"Actually," Wolx countered, "My Street Tune Brawler has his own effect. I can dealt damage to you if my monster's attack is higher than your monster's defense."

Izumi blinked. She blinked again. Her eyes widened in surprised and she clasped her face, "EHHHHH?" Sadly, her precious protected Life Points just decreased before her very eyes.

Izumi: 4000 – 900 = 3100. Wolx: 4000.

Izumi groaned slightly and sobbed in disappointment, _'Damn, just when I thought I could protect my life points for at least one turn but so far I haven't ever since I stepped unto this island.'_

Tsubaki commented, "Man, Izumi just had to deal with a monster with a piercing effect."

Alexander chuckled, "Indeed, she's in quite a pinch."

Izumi sighed, "I should have expected that…"

Wolx frowned and narrowed his eyes. He complained, "You're clearly underestimating me."

Izumi blinked at surprise to Wolx's complaint, "Underestimating you?"

Wolx replied, "You were thinking that you would be fine because I'm Osiris Red."

Izumi retorted, "That's not true!" She then just remembered what she thought before the duel began, "Never mind…it is true…"

Wolx pointed out, "You probably assumed that I was Osiris Red because my duel strength decreased," He crossed his arms with his eyes serious, "I'll assure you that wasn't the reason why I downgraded to Osiris Red. I only became Osiris Red from Obelisk Blue because of my attitude problem."

Izumi was confused at first as she questioned why did Wolx finally decided to tell her now about the reason why he became Osiris Red. She then realized the answer, "Ah!"

Tsubaki was confused too and he couldn't realize it like Izumi since he's slower in the mind than her. He looked at Alexander, expecting an answer from him even though he knew it was fruitless, "I don't get it. What does that guy means?"

Alexander just smiled and decided to answer, "His skills as Obelisk Blue haven't decreased."

Tsubaki finally understood, "Ohhhh…" He then finally absorbed the seriousness of the situation, "Eh? That means Izumi has been fighting against Obelisk Blue level?" He averted his head toward Izumi and groaned out of concern, "Oh man! Izumi is in serious trouble!"

Wolx glared with his cool eyes, "So you better duel serious unless…" His cold eyes softened as he looked away with a slight blush below his eyes, "Unless, you're just throwing in the towel for me."

Izumi nearly fell off the duel stand from that comment and retorted, "No way! I may be not duel-obsessed as Tsubaki but I have my pride as a duelist!"

Tsubaki interjected, "I'm not duel-obsessed."

Izumi chided, "SHUT IT!" Forcing poor Tsubaki back away to the sidelines like a sniveling coward. Izumi turned her eyes back to Wolx, "I'm going to do my best as a Duelist to win this!" She clenched her fist to prove her determination but at the same time, she sweats out of realization, _'Although…I have been dueling my best…' _

Wolx sighed slightly out of disappointment but he knew that he would get he wants in the end if he wins this duel. He put on a serious expression with his eye brows narrowed and eyes slit, "I'll just have to win against you and go out with you! Turn end!"

"Draw!" Izumi drew the top card of her deck on the duel map and added it to her hand. She snatched one card and placed it down on the map, "I summon Maiden of the Spirits in attack!" [**M3 (3/700/1300)**] The monster slot glowed as a pre-teen girl popped out with a cute expression of kindness. She wore a blue magician shirt robe over her small dark blue skirt, making it almost similar to school uniform, "When there's a monster on my opponent's field and I summon this card in attack mode, I can summon a token that would have the same attribute and subtype as your monster! Summon Wind Warrior token!" A tiny cute little deformed boy appeared on the Field with a green afterglow, signaling his wind attribute. The girl just smiled gently at the arrival of her new friend.

Izumi then played another card from her hand, "I play a magic card, Magical Costume – White Feathered Brigandine!" [**S2**] An upright magic card appeared on her field, displaying a beautiful white leather brigandine with golden belt buckles and decorative swan feathers around the hems of the sleeveless shoulders and waist of the armor. Placed in front of the armor was a thin silver rapier with golden hilt and steel guard that was sculptured to look like an elegant feather. Accompanying the rapier was a rectangular curved sky blue shield with golden edges and the symbolic crest of the swan, "In order to activate his magic card, I must sacrifice two monsters and one of them must have "Maiden" in its name. I sacrifice Maiden of the Spirits and the wind warrior token!" The maiden in a blue dress spun around as the wind boy changed into green ribbons of light. The maiden continued to spin as the green ribbons of light wrapped around her completely, "To special summon Swan Heroine Beatrice!" [**M4 (6/2200/1400)**]

The ribbons were blown away, revealing a tall slender woman dressed in white feathered leather brigandine with long flowing white dress skirt covering the back of her legs. She wore a black skin tight skirt underneath her armor and a thin white helmet with bird wings on the sides as decorations over her long blond hair. Her helmet also contained the head of a swan and the neck above the forehead. As shown in the magic card, the heroine donned the same rapier and shield in attack position.

Izumi grinned as she felt incredibly proud of herself that she was able to summon a powerful monster, "Success!" She quickly pointed to the Street Tune Brawler, "Swan Heroine Beatrice, attack his monster!" The female warrior obeyed her order and soared toward the ceiling of the underground arcade. As she reached the limit of her high jump, she suddenly dropped toward her opponent.

Wolx yelled with shock of her action, "Are you crazy? Both of our monsters have the same attack strength. They will destroy each other!"

Izumi smirked, "Ha! Watch and be amazed! Swan Heroine Beatrice's effect activates now!" As the swan warrior fell toward her opponent, she quickly put her shield forward in front of her. The shield glowed brightly and suddenly it sent out a small tornado of white feathers that struck the brawler merciless, "When my monster fights, all of your monsters' ATK get weakened by 500 for each monster on your field!"

Wolx was surprised, "What?"

Izumi continued, "Since there's only one monster on your Field, his ATK get only decreased by 500! [**Street Tune Brawler: 2200 – 500 = 1700**] Swan Heroine Beatrice, finish him off with Swan White Slash!" The heroine raised her rapier and slashed through Street Tune Brawler's chest as she fell and landed gracefully. She then backward flipped back to Izumi's field right before the Brawler shattered into pieces.

Wolx braced the flying pieces and gritted his teeth out of irritation as he watched his Life Points dwindling.

Izumi: 3100. Wolx: 4000 – 500 = 3500.

Izumi quickly pressed her index finger on her Duel map, "Then I activate my face-down card, Call of the Haunted and revive Maiden of the Moonlight!" Her face-down card flipped up, revealing a picture of sets of graves with purple smoke coming out of them. The card flashed as a familiar monster flew out of the trap card, "Maiden of the Moonlight, finish it off!" The winged maiden continued her flight toward Wolx. As she got closer to her goal, she quickly put her hands together and formed a perfect white sphere that shared a resemblance to the full moon. She then tossed the moon directly at Wolx, creating a white-colored explosion and damaging his Life Points.

Izumi: 3100. Wolx: 3500 – 1500 = 2000.

Izumi grinned triumphantly and finished, "I end my turn. What do you think of my assault?"

Tsubaki stared with slight awe expressed on his face, "Wow, so this is Izumi's sort of deck. This is the first time I seen it."

Alexander smiled, "Magical girls, how very cute."

Wolx looked down with his eyes hidden in the shadows of his hair, "You're pretty impressive for someone who doesn't love duel much as the others," He suddenly stared at Izumi with sharp eyes with killer fighting spirit, "But I'm not done yet. The real duel begins now!"

Izumi felt pressured by Wolx's eyes. She never saw his eyes like that before. His cold and serious eyes shook her to the core, causing her to gulp as her throat felt nearly dried. She never faced those kinds of eyes before, the eyes of fighter. Sure, she saw Kurai and Tsubaki fought with those eyes expressing their fighters' spirits but she only watched it from the sidelines. When she dueled against Shizuka of Ra Yellow, her eyes were gentle and fun-loving as they were just having a casual duel. She quivered, _'This is…this is what's like facing a serious duelist, isn't it?'_ She muttered, "Turn end."

Alexander's eyes slowly opened, revealing his forest green eyes. It was a rare sight because he usually kept them closed for sadistic purposes. He pointed out, "She's shaking."

Tsubaki blinked in confusion, "What?" He didn't notice that Alexander's eyes were opened.

Alexander narrowed his eyes, "Izumi is scared."

"Ehh?" Tsubaki shouted with surprise. He averted his eyes to Izumi who just standing there with her eyes quivering. He questioned, "What's wrong with her?" His voice was filled with worries.

Alexander closed his eyes and answered, "It's probably her first time dealing with a serious opponent."

Tsubaki looked at Alexander confusedly, "Serious opponent?"

"Intent to win." Kurai muttered.

"Huh?" Tsubaki turned his head toward Kurai, "What do you say, Yuki?"

Kurai just responded by staring at the duel.

Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched out of irritation as he cursed, "Cold-hearted stiff bastard."

Suddenly, a flying metallic deck case slammed Tsubaki's head so hard that it caused the poor guy to fell on the floor with loud impact. The deck case just bounced back toward Kurai who just grabbed it in midair effortlessly. Tsubaki was just lying on the ground with eyes swirling in circles and a huge red rectangle imprint on his face cheek.

Alexander chuckled, "Poor Tsubaki."

"Draw!" Wolx drew the top card and immediately placed one card from his hand to the duel map, "I summon Tune Fighter [**M5 (5/2300/1200)**] in attack position!" One of his monster slots glowed and a tall man dressed in black overcoat came out. He wore a black cap over his long brown hair tied into dreadlocks along with his red headphones over his ears.

Izumi gaped, "A monster with 2300 ATK and its Lv. 5? How can you summon it without sacrifices?"

Wolx answered, "When my opponent has two or more monsters on the Field, I can normal summon this monster without tributes."

Izumi's eyes widened in realization as she glanced at her monsters, "I have two monsters!"

Wolx nodded and then declared, "Now, I activate the effect of Music Encore! When the equipped monster is destroyed, I can remove Music Encore from the game to special summon another copy of the destroyed monster." Wolx removed the magic card from his discard pile and immediately, the Street Tune Brawler came back to the field with his original ATK, "Then I play a field card, Dance Dance Stadium!" [**S3**] A field slot component ejected from the Duel stand, allowing Wolx to place the field card in it.

"Dance Dance Stadium?" Izumi repeated the name as she had a bad feeling about this.

Suddenly, the monsters on the Dueling Field were lifted by a huge rectangular show stage with stadium lights lighting up the entire Field. Right in the middle of the stage was a giant dance dance revolution pad that replaced the battlegrounds.

Tsubaki gaped with shock, immediately forgetting the pain that Kurai caused to him, "A giant frigging DDR pad?"

Alexander smiled, "My, my, he is really a DDR fan, alright."

Izumi stared with amazement in her eyes, forgetting all the fear she had, "Wow!"

Wolx was taken aback from Izumi's reaction. He couldn't help but smirked slightly as he knew that she was a strange girl but honest. That was why that he felt that he needed to win. He explained, "Allow me to explain the effects of this card. This Field increases the ATK of all monsters with "Tuner" or "Tune" in their names by 350 points!" Wolx pointed his hand at his monsters, "Both of my monsters have "Tune" in their names, so their attack power increases!" [**Street Tune Brawler: 1850 + 350 = 2200**] [**Tune Fighter: 2300 + 350 = 2650**]

Izumi gasped as the fear returned back to her body, "They have more attack points than my monsters!"

"Correct," Wolx looked at Izumi directly with his fighting eyes, "Now, I'm going to attack." He ordered his monsters, "Street Tune Brawler, attack Maiden of the Moonlight again!" The brawler once again dashed forward past the dancing pad toward his target. Instead of dropping onto his hands, he just held back his arm and then used all his force to punch the poor revived maiden, destroying her as the result.

Izumi: 3100 – 700 = 2400. Wolx: 2000.

"Now, Tune Fighter, attack her last monster!" Wolx yelled as the man in black overcoat ran across the Field. He suddenly jumped and twirled his legs. He finished it off with a strong kick from the side directly at Swan Heroine's weak side. The impact caused the poor woman to shatter like fragile glasses.

Izumi screamed as she braced the strong winds caused by the destruction of her monsters.

Izumi: 2400 – 450 = 1950. Wolx: 2000.

Wolx placed one more card on the map, "I place one card face down and I end my turn."

Tsubaki commented, "Their life points are almost tied!"

Alexander pointed out, "Yes, but Wolx appeared to have the upper hand especially when Izumi never faced this sort of opponent."

Tsubaki frowned as he still doesn't understand what Alexander meant, "You know, I don't really get that."

Alexander smiled knowingly, "There are two basic types of Duelists."

Tsubaki blinked, "Two basic types?"

Alexander confirmed, "Correct. The first type is the one who wants to play, the kind of casual Duelist who just like to duel for fun."

"Oh…and the second type?" Tsubaki asked more.

Alexander replied, "The second type is the one who want…"

"To win." Kurai interjected.

Tsubaki blinked as he was nearly shocked that Kurai aka cold freak just spoke again. Alexander just smiled, "Correct…the second type is the kind of duelist who seek victory."

"So…" Tsubaki pondered hard, "I'm guessing…Izumi is the type of duelist who just wants to have fun…and Wolx wants to win…" He realized, "AH, so that's why you meant Izumi is scared facing a serious opponent."

Kurai scoffed, "To win, one must have the intent to fight. The intent to kill." He looked away, "To think she's scared of that. She's the worst."

Tsubaki frowned, "Hey that was uncalled for! You heard Alex! It's her first time facing a serious guy!"

Kurai glared, "When you're in a duel, you give everything you got to win. If you don't do that, then you're just insulting your opponent's pride as a Duelist."

Tsubaki was taken aback from Kurai's death glare but he defended, "I-I-I knew that! But I'm sure Izumi doesn't mean to insult anyone. She's just a normal high school girl."

Kurai's glare intensified, "Then she should have been in a normal high school instead of Duel Academy of all places. If she can't fight seriously, then clearly, she's in the wrong place."

Tsubaki glared back, "You…"

"He's right." Izumi interrupted.

"Izumi…" Tsubaki looked at her, "You heard?"

Izumi sighed, "Clearly, since you guys were right over there anyway." She looked down, "But he is right, you know…I'm just heading into this duel without even thinking about winning. I just thought to myself…oh…I just need to do my best…who cares about win or loss?" She revealed more, "Plus…I was already thinking to myself…ah, it wouldn't be so bad to lose and be in a relationship…"

Wolx blushed slightly at that comment. He looked away out of embarrassment, "I'm flattered."

Izumi narrowed her eyes, "But Yuki's right! I was thinking wrong. I…didn't come to Duel Academy to be in relationship…I came here because there's something I need to do…to do that…I gotta give everything I got! Draw!" She drew the card, _'I'm scared of facing strong challenges in unknown territories…I can be in par with the guys back at home with sports but this duel…is a whole new thing to me…but…I want to do this…to catch up with my sister's back…' _

* * *

In Duel Academia, inside the Osiris Red dorms, Hayato was having a duel with his father, Kumazou.

Hayato panted after taking a Booze Cannon attack from Drunken Angel, "I'm not done yet!"

'_Hmph, this is turnin' out to be pretty good.'_ Kumazou couldn't help but felt a little proud of his son's determination, "I'm endin' my turn!"

Pharaoh meowed as Daitokuji stroked him while observing the match, "Only 1000 Life Points left. This will be a do-or-die situation for Hayato-kun-nya."

"My turn! Draw!" Hayato drew the card and saw it was Death Kangaroo, _'This card…!'_

Hayato then had a flashback to when Sho gave him this card.

* * *

Sho stood up as he took out a card, "Right! Then I'll give you this." He handed the card to Hayato sitting in front of him, "It was in a pack I bought the other day, but I can't use it."

Hayato looked up to Sho, "You're giving it to me?"

Sho suggested, "See, if you add a kangaroo to your koalas, you'll get an Australian Deck, right?"

* * *

Hayato stared at the card with firm resolve, _'I…don't want to leave this school!' _ He grabbed one card from his hand and played it, "I activate the magic card, Silent Dead! It can special summon a Normal monster from my graveyard!" His duel disk slid the card out of the graveyard slot, "I'll use it on Big Koala!" He placed the same card horizontally on his duel disk. There was a small blue tornado that suddenly expanded and revealed a giant blue-furred koala, _'I don't want to leave this dorm!' _Hayato played another card, "And next, I activate the magic card, Polymerization! I fuse Big Koala with Death Kangaroo in my hand to summon Master of Oz!" His Death Kangaroo jumped over Big Koala as they fused into a giant green boxing koala.

Kumazou's eyes widened, _'That card…!' _He remembered that he eavesdropped on Hayato's chat with Sho and Judai last night.

* * *

"All right! In that case…just wait a sec." Judai stood up and found a card that he needed. He handed it to Hayato, "Right, then. I'll give you this. Its ATK points are 4200. Use it well, and you'll win for sure!"

Hayato was surprised, "You're giving me an awesome card like that?"

Judai replied, "I want you to win." He rubbed his nose, "Now that we've managed to become friends, we'd be lonely if you went back home."

Hayato just smiled as all three friends were unaware of Kumazou eavesdropping on them.

* * *

Kumazou smiled as he looked back at their gestures of friendship last night.

Hayato ordered, "I use Master of Oz to attack Drunken Angel!" His determination un-wavered, _'And I don't want to be away from Sho and Judai!' _He shouted the attack, "Ayers Rocky!"

* * *

Back at the underground arcade, below the South Duel academy.

Izumi glanced at the card she drew and then played it right away, "I play Pot of Greed and draw two cards!" A green pot with greedy face appeared as Izumi quickly drew two more cards. She saw Magical Costume – Pink Frilly Dress and Magical Weapon – Magical Pink Staff, the two cards she just drew. She smiled as she placed one card on the map, "I summon Love Maiden!" [**M6 (2/400/400)**] A small girl dressed in yellow European dress arrived on the field with elegance, "Then I play Magical Costume – Pink Frilly Dress! [**S4**] I sacrifice Love Maiden to special summon Magical Girl – Spirit Castor Lilac in defense!" [**M7 (4/1300/1600)**] The small girl in the yellow dress spun herself as she magically transformed into a new heroine, an adorable girl in a pink frilly dress, "When Spirit Castor Lilac is successfully special summoned through Magical Costume, I can search through my deck and activate Book of Magical Spirits!" [**S5**]

Izumi grabbed her deck and quickly found the card she needed. She slammed the card on the map with excitement, "Book of Magical Spirits! Reveal!" A thick-covered violet book appeared on the Field behind her magical girl, "Then I'm going to equip Magical Weapon – Magical Pink Staff [**S6**] to my monster!" The violet-haired girl held her hand up and suddenly gained a pink wand with a ruby moon and a diamond sun, "Her equipment card increases her ATK and DEF by 300 points and prevent her from being destroyed in battle! [**Magical Girl – Card Castor Lilac: 1300/1600 + 300/300 = 1600/1900**] I also play this magic card, Double Summon!" Her magic card materialized on the Field with a picture of a blond warrior holding a rod with blue crystal on top casting a spell. There were two pillars of lightning, one in the back and one shone on Gazelle, "It allow me to normal summon the second time!" She grabbed the last card in her hand and threw it on the map, "I summon Magical Spirit – The Wind Elemental!" [**M8 (8/3000/2800)**] The Card Castor twirled her pink wand until she held it high in the air, making the crystals shone brightly. Suddenly, right on cue, a powerful pillar of tornado struck the DDR stage. The tornado eventually cleared, revealing a beautiful woman made out of pure energy of lime-green colored wind. Covering her chest and her waist was a very thin and soft outfit that was made of yellow and white feathers. She wore a thin shoulder pads made of curved feathers that flow like a wind. She had long yellow hair that moved like a gentle breeze and her lower half was a swirling tornado blowing strong winds around her body, "Magical Pink Staff allow me to summon Magical Spirit monsters without any sacrifices!"

Tsubaki stared at the newest monster with complete amazement, "Woah! A monster with 3000 ATK points and no sacrifices too?"

Alexander smiled, "Izumi is not slowing down in her attacks…a good strategy but will it pay off, I wonder?"

Kurai continued to watch the duel with his amber-colored eyes.

Wolx narrowed his eyes as he couldn't believe that Izumi was able to summon a powerful monster already. He gulped, _'It's a good thing that I was able to have this Field card…but it all depends on luck…'_

Izumi yelled, "Wind Elemental, attack Street Tune Brawler with Magic Storm!" The wind spirit stretched both of her arms as she began to channel energy from air. Suddenly, small visible tornados were merged into a giant swirling sphere held in the wind spirit's hands. The sphere shot out a silver tornado that spun horizontally across the field toward the Street Tune Brawler.

"I activate the second effect of Dance Dance Stadium!" Wolx declared before the tornado spun through his monster.

"What?" Izumi was surprised, "There's another effect?"

Wolx nodded, "When you battles against a face up "Tune" or "Tuner" monster, both of us have to select one card from our hand and show it to each other. If our selected cards are different types that are magic, trap, or monster, then I can negate your attack and regain life points equal to half of the attack points of the monster that battles."

Izumi pointed out, "But I don't have any cards in my mind."

Wolx countered, "In that case, you get to draw one card and use that card."

'_This Field card…it's a gamble…if I get it, my attack will go through…but if I don't get it…then Wolx will gain Life Points and my attack won't go through…I'll just have to try!' _Izumi snatched the top card of her deck

Wolx selected one card from the remaining three cards in his Hand, "The card I chose is a magic card, Dance Steps – Easy."

Izumi grinned, "The card I drew is a magic card too! Magical Spirit – The Locket!"

Wolx gaped, "What?"

Izumi's eyes shone with triumph as she declared her attack, "Now Wind Elemental, Magic Storm attack!" The swirling sphere shot the tornado again but this time, it blew the Street Tune Brawler out of the stage until he shattered in mid-air.

Izumi: 1950. Wolx: 2000 – 800 = 1200.

Izumi continued, "The Wind Elemental's effect activates! When she destroys a monster as the result of battle, I must destroy one magic or trap card on the Field." She pointed to the stage, "As much as I love DDR, your Field card is pretty dangerous. So I choose that card!" The wind spirit still held the swirling sphere in her hands. She quickly held it up toward the ceiling, causing the sphere to flash green. Suddenly, many pillars of thin tornados struck the Field, destroy parts of the Dance Dance Stadium. The players and the audience had to brace the overwhelming winds and huge chunks of broken stadium. When the storm was over, the stadium was destroyed and the Field was back to normal.

"My Field card…" Wolx frowned, "Not bad."

Izumi smiled sweetly, "Thanks."

Wolx flipped his only face-down card on the Field, "I activate a trap card, Music in the Streets!" [**T1**] His face-down card lifted itself up, showing a picture of many music notes floating around in the city streets, "This trap card allow me to add one Lv. 4 or lower "Tune" or "Tuner" monster from my deck to my hand!" He skimmed through his deck and chose one card, "The monster I chose is Street Tuner!"

Izumi questioned, _'I wonder what kind of monster is it…well, no matter, it can't beat my Elementals!' _She played the last card in her Hand, "Since I drew the magic card I'm looking for, I'm going to activate it! Go! Magical Spirit – The Locket!" [**S7**] Her magic card had a picture of a golden locket with heart-shaped wings on the side of it. The locket suddenly came out of the card and attached itself to the Book of Magical Spirits, "This neat card allowed my Magical Spirit monsters to stay on the Field since their effects forced them to return to my hand at the end of my turn. Turn end."

"Draw!" Wolx grabbed the card, "Heh, the Goddess of Luck is smiling on me now. I play Pot of Greed!" He immediately slammed one card down on the map and the green pot materialized in front of him. Wolx drew two cards and quickly selected another card, "I summon Street Tuner [**M9 (3/1400/650)**] in attack!" One of his monster slots glowed as a young boy jumped down and arrived. The boy had brown wild spiky hair and pale white skin of his thin body. He wore a blue collared jacket with silver chrome zipper over his black baggy shorts. Like other monsters that Wolx summoned, he too had headphones over his ears except it was coated in blue color, "Next, I play a magic card, Dance Steps – Easy." [**S8**] The magic card appeared with a picture of a young teenage girl dancing in front of a pink DDR machine, "When this card activated, I choose one face-up monster on the Field and increase its attack by 300 points! Obviously, I choose Street Tuner!" [**Street Tuner: 1400 + 300 = 1700**]

Izumi countered, "It's still not enough to beat my Wind Elemental and Magical Pink Staff prevent Card Castor Lilac from being destroyed in battle."

Wolx smirked, "Heh, I'm fully aware of that." He declared, "I activate Street Tuner's effect!" His continuous magic card suddenly shattered, "By sending a continuous magic card to the graveyard, Street Tuner can attack directly!"

"Eh?" Izumi panicked, "His attack is 1700!"

Street Tuner glistened in blue glow as he vanished from the Field. He suddenly dropped in between Izumi and her monsters. He looked up toward the female Osiris Red duelist and swiftly kicked the player as he flipped somersault backward to his spot.

Izumi: 1950 – 850 = 1100. Wolx: 1200.

Izumi blinked with slight surprise, "Huh? I didn't lose many Life Points?"

Wolx sighed disappointedly, "When Street Tuner attacked directly, his attack points are cut in half." Wolx glowered, "But our Life Points are almost tied. Dance Steps – Easy's effect activates! When it is sent to the Graveyard from the Field, I can add Dance Steps – Medium to my hand!" He took one card from his deck and added it to his Hand, "I put Tune Fighter in defense!" His black-clothed fighter crouched on his knee, "Then I place two cards face down and end my turn!" He placed two face-down cards on his duel map. [**Street Tuner: 1700 – 300 = 1400**]

"I use the Book of Magical Spirits!" Izumi shouted as the golden locket removed itself from the purple book. The book opened itself up and spun through many pages with drawings of the spirits, "Instead of drawing a card, I can pick one Spirit monster from my deck and add it to my hand. I chose the Magical Spirit – The Fire Elemental!" The book stopped right at the page of the fiery spirit. Izumi seized the card she chose from her deck, "With Magical Pink Staff, I can normal summon the Spirit without any sacrifices! I summon the Fire Elemental!" [**M10 (8/3000/2800)**] The page of the burning spirit flashed and shot out a ball of fire. The fire ball spiraled into a shape of tornado that struck the Field. The fire tornado cleared, revealing the beautiful spirit of fire with flaming clothes and burning hair. The book closed itself and the locket quickly attached to it.

"Alright!" Tsubaki cheered, "Izumi now have two monsters with 3000 ATK! It's a sure win for her!"

Alexander smiled, "I'm not sure about that. Wolx seemed calm."

"Eh?" Tsubaki's cheery mood was dampened with this new information.

Kurai closed his eyes, "He's planning something."

Izumi pointed to Street Tuner, "I'll start the assault! Wind Elemental, attack Street Tuner with Magic Storm!" The wind spirit gathered all the winds and created another mighty sphere. Then the sphere fired a horizontal tornado directly at Street Tuner.

"I activate my trap card! Easy on the Newbie!" [**T2**] Wolx revealed his trap card that contained a picture of a boy standing in front of DDR machine with the word "Beginner" on the video screen, "This trap card prevented you from attacking my monster with the lowest attack power. You'll have to choose another target."

Izumi growled slightly, "Fine, Wind Elemental! Attack Tune Fighter instead!" The tornado suddenly changed direction and blew the poor Tune Fighter away, destroying him.

"Now I can activate this card! Continue?" [**T3**] His second trap card had a picture of a teenage boy being exhausted in front of the DDR machine with "Continue?" displaying on the screen, "When my monster is destroyed, I can revive it back in the same position." His Tune Fighter came back, crouching in the same position as before."

Izumi countered, "Even if you bring back your monster, my Wind Elemental's effect activates! I get to destroy one magic or trap card on your Field!"

Wolx retorted, "What magic or trap card?" His Field only had two monsters because he recently used up all his face-down cards.

Izumi stared with perplexed look until she realized, "AH! You have no magic or trap cards! No!"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped as he ignored Izumi's reaction and averted his head to Alexander, "Um…why is that a bad thing?"

Alexander explained, "The Wind Elemental's effect required you to destroy a magic or trap card. If there's no magic or trap card in the opponent's field…"

Tsubaki realized, "AH! Izumi must destroy one of her own!"

"She would have won if she attacked with the Fire first." Kurai pointed out disappointedly.

Alexander smiled, "But Wolx knew that her nature would make her attack with the Wind first…he's very observant."

Kurai scoffed to himself, '_He's not that great. North Duel Academy must have really low standards if they make him a Blue._'

Wolx pressured, "Well, Izumi, what card did you choose to destroy?"

Izumi pleaded, "Hold on, I'm thinking…" She glanced at her two cards on the Field, her book and locket, _'Well if I destroy the book, I can't pick any more spirits…but if I destroy the locket, all the spirits will return to my hand and the Field will be almost empty…' _She sighed, "I chose the Book of Magical Spirits." The Wind spirit held the sphere high once again as she summoned another tornado that destroyed the book.

Izumi clenched her fist, "The book may be destroyed but I can still win this! Fire Elemental, attack Tune Fighter with Magic Blaze!" She knew that she couldn't target Street Tuner due to the effect of Wolx's already activated trap card. The Fire Spirit responded to her command as she gathered all the flames into an orb. She then tossed the orb right at Tune Fighter, creating a huge explosion. She cheered, "Alright! Success! Huh?" She noticed as soon as the dust cleared, Tune Fighter was still on the Field.

Wolx yelled, "Continue? prevent my monster from being destroyed as the result of battle until the end of the turn!"

"Eh?" Izumi cried, "That means the Fire Elemental's effect doesn't activate!"

"Hang in there, Izumi!" Tsubaki tried to support her.

Kurai sighed, "I told you. She could have won if she attacked with Fire first."

Alexander chuckled, "Well, we all make tiny mistakes."

Izumi cringed, "Turn end."

"Draw!" Wolx added the card to his Hand, "I place two face-down cards! Then I play Dance Steps – Medium!" [**S9**] His magic card had a picture of a muscular young man dancing in front of gray-colored DDR machine.

Izumi complained, "Another direct attack?"

Wolx chuckled, "Heh, of course. This magic card increase one monster's ATK by 400!" [**Street Tuner: 1400 + 400 = 1800**]

Izumi paled, "400! His attack is 1800…divided by half…900 damage…I'll be safe for one more turn…"

"Not necessarily." Wolx interjected, "The magic card inflicted 300 points of damage to my opponent when the monster I chose inflicts damage."

Izumi counted, "900 plus 300…that's 1200?"

"This will be my victory! Street Tuner, attack her directly!" Wolx ordered as the Dance Steps – Medium shattered. The Street Tuner teleported away and then appeared in front of her.

Izumi's eyes widened as she knew that she had no way to defend herself. She closed her eyes and braced an overwhelming kick from Street Tuner.

Izumi: 1100 – 1200 = 0. Wolx: 1200.

Izumi barely opened her eyes just to see that her life points dwindled to zero. She looked down out of utter disappointment, "I lost." The holograms disappeared from the Field and her duel stand slowly elevated to the bottom.

Tsubaki walked up to her, "Hey, don't worry about it, Izumi. Everyone lost sometimes and beside it was an awesome duel!"

Alexander smiled, "Yes, you fared very well against an Obelisk Blue. That's clearly impressive."

Izumi laughed nervously, "I guess you're right…" She sighed, _'I lost to an Obelisk Blue and I also lost to a Ra Yellow…'_

Kurai commented, "You need to improve more." He walked away from the others.

Izumi sighed, "He's right…"

Tsubaki patted her shoulder, "Ah, no worries. We'll get stronger! We, Osiris Red, stick together and help each other out."

Izumi nodded, "Yeah…" She noticed Wolx walking up to them, "Hey…a deal is a deal. I lost, so I get to go out with you. So be nice to me." She chuckled.

Wolx blushed slightly as he looked away, "You don't need to."

Izumi blinked, "Eh?"

Wolx replied, "I don't want you to go out with me just because I won…beside…I would have lost if you attack with the Fire Elemental first...so I took a gamble and baited you with two face-down cards."

"Oh…" Izumi understood.

Wolx continued, "Beside…I can not call myself an Obelisk Blue duelist if I rely on gambling to get myself out of that sort of circumstances." He looked up with determined look, "I'm going back…to North Duel Academy."

"You are?" Izumi was surprised, "But why?"

Wolx stared at her, "I want to become stronger and I believe I can improve myself at my home Academy." He smiled, "You will become stronger too, right?"

Izumi smiled back and nodded with enthusiasm, "Yeah! I will!"

Wolx smirked, "Oh…but you still can't beat me in DDR."

Izumi laughed, "Then I'll improve on that too and beat you when I see you next time!"

Wolx closed his eyes as he tore his face away from her, "Heh."

**

* * *

TBC**

Izumi sighed: Wolx is going back to the North. He was a cool guy.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped: You sound like you were more disappointed that you didn't get to date him.

Izumi sweat-dropped: I do not! Beside, can't you blame me? He's such a sweet and nice guy unlike the new guy coming up.

Tsubaki: Ah! You're right! The new guy! I heard he spend his early years in Pro League. That's amazing!

Izumi: EH? A pro league duelist? And he challenged Yuki? YUKI!

Tsubaki: Kinda sad that Yuki hasn't fought a while since our duels been taking over the show lately.

Izumi: YUKI! DON'T LOSE!

Tsubaki sweat-dropped: Maybe…she's after Yuki more?

**Next Episode: Episode 9 – The Onslaught of the New Rival!**

Izumi: The Onslaught? What does it mean by that?

Tsubaki: I heard this new guy is addicted to weapons. So maybe, lot of equipments cards.

Izumi blinked: Various weapons vs. various fusions?

Tsubaki:….man, that's kinda lot…

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Duel – Dance Dance Stadium**

**Alexander: **A very interesting field card that provide power-ups for Tuners and Tune monsters. Not only that, it can negate your opponent's attack and heal your Life Points. It's certainly a very useful card.

**Izumi: **It's a good thing, I destroyed it but then…I wouldn't want to because I want to dance on that cool stadium!

**Alexander: **Izumi, how could you say that? Do you fully intend to be with Wolx?

**Izumi: **Eh, what do you mean?

**Alexander: **Do you not notice that Wolx's monsters look like average humans?

**Izumi: **Um, yeah?

**Alexander: **They're actually duelists who lost on Dance Dance Stadium. Since they couldn't destroy the card in time, the field has steal their dancing heart and turn them into dancing drones. If you haven't destroy it, you would be a welcome addition to his deck.

**Izumi: **No way! WOLXXXX!

**Alexander chuckled: **Of course, I'm just kidding.

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Maiden of the Moonlight: Light/Spellcaster/4/1500/1300**

**M2 - ****Street Tune Brawler: Wind/Warrior/4/1850/1400**: Effect: When this card attacks a Monster in Defense Position, inflict damage to your opponent's Life Points by the differences between this card's ATK and your opponent's monster's DEF.

**M3 - ****Maiden of the Spirits: Earth/3/700/1300**: Effect: When there's an opponent's monster on the Field and you summon this card in attack mode, you can summon a token (1/500/500) that had the same main type and subtype as the opponent's monster. At your standby phase, if your opponent had monsters on his or her Field and this card remains in attack mode, special summon another token with the main and sub-type of one of the opponent's monsters.

**M4 - ****Magical Girl – Swan Heroine Beatrice: Wind/Warrior/6/2200/1400**: Effect: You can Normal Summon this card. In that case, treat this monster as Maiden Monster. If this card is successfully Special Summoned with [Magical Costume], this card gained the following effect. When this monster battles, decrease all of your opponent's monster(s)'s ATK by 500 for each monster on your opponent's Field.

**M5 - ****Tune Fighter: Wind/Warrior/5/2300/1200**: If your opponent has two or more monsters, you may normal summon this monster without tribute.

**M6 - ****Love Maiden: Light/Angel/2/400/400**: Effect: If this Monster is in attack mode, it cannot be destroyed as a result of Battle. When this Monster is attacked by your opponent place 1 [Maiden Counter] on the attacker.

**M7****–** **Magical Girl – Spirit Castor Lilac: Light/Spellcaster/4/1300/1600**: Effect: You can Normal Summon this card. In that case, treat this monster as Maiden Monster. If this card is successfully Special Summon with [Magical Costume], search your deck for [Book of Magical Spirits] and activate it. Shuffle your deck afterwards.

**M8 - ****Magical Spirit – The Wind Elemental: Wind/Spellcaster – Spirit/8/3000/2800**: Effect: This card cannot be special summoned. This card returns to the owner's hand during the End Phase of the turn. This card can only be normal summoned, flip summoned or flipped face-up when there's [Book of Magical Spirits] on the Field. When a monster on your opponent's side of the field is destroyed by this card as a result of battle, destroy one magic or trap card on the Field.

**M9 - ****Street Tuner – Wind/Warrior/3/1400/650**: Effect: By sending one face up Continuous Spell or Continuous Trap card on your side of the field to the graveyard, this card may attack your opponent directly (if this card attacks your opponent directly with this effect, cut the attack of this card in half.)

**M10 - ****Magical Spirit – The Fire Elemental: Fire/Pyro – Spirit/8/3000/2800**: Effect: This card cannot be special summoned. This card returns to the owner's hand during the End Phase of the turn. This card can only be normal summoned, flip summoned or flipped face-up when there's [Book of Magical Spirits] on the Field. When a monster on your opponent's side of the field is destroyed by this card as a result of battle, inflict damage to your opponent's Life Points equal to the original ATK of the destroyed monster.

**S1 - ****Music Encore – Equip Spell**: This card can only be equipped to a monster with 'Tune' or 'Tuner' in its name. Increase the attack points of the equipped monster by 350 points. When the equipped monster is destroyed, by removing this card from your graveyard, you may special summon one copy of the destroyed monster from your deck to your Field.

**S2 - ****Magical Costume – White Feathered Brigandine – Normal Spell**: Activate this card by offering two monsters, one must have [Maiden] in its name, as tributes. Special Summon 1 Magical Girl – Swan Heroine Beatrice from your deck or Hand.

**S3 - ****Dance Dance Stadium – Field Spell**: Increase the attack points of all 'Tune' and 'Tuner' monsters by 350 points. When your opponent declares an attack against a face up 'Tune' or 'Tuner' monster, both players select one card from their hand. If both selected cards are the same type (monster, spell, or trap), the attack continues. If the selected cards are different, negate the attack and increase your life points by half of the attacking monster's attack points. If either player(s) have no cards in his or her hand, that player(s) must pick up the top card of their deck and use that card instead. The player will add the card to his or her hand afterwards.

**S4 -****Magical Costume – Pink Frilly Dress – Normal Spell**: Activate this card by offering a monster that includes [Maiden] in its card name as a tribute. Special Summon 1 Magical Girl – Spirit Castor Lilac from your deck or Hand.

**S5 - ****Book of Magical Spirits – Continuous Spell**: If there's a face-up monster with [Magical Girl] in its name on the Field, you can add 1 monster with [Magical Spirit] in its name to your hand per turn instead of drawing 1 card during your Draw Phase. Your Deck is then shuffled.

**S6 - ****Magical Weapon – Magical Pink Staff – Equipment Spell**: This card can only be equipped to [Magical Girl – Spirit Castor Lilac]. Increase her ATK and DEF by 300. This monster cannot be destroyed as the result of battle. You can normal summon a monster with [Magical Spirit] in its name without any sacrifices if required.

**S7 - ****Magical Spirit – The Locket – Continuous Spell**: Can only activate this when there's [Book of Magical Spirits] on the Field. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, all [Magical Spirit] monsters remain face-up on the field and do not return to their owner's hand during the End Phase even if they are Summoned or flipped face-up.

**S8 - ****Dance Steps – Easy – Continuous Spell**: When this card is activated, select one face up monster on the field. Increase the attack points of the selected monster by 300 points. When this face up card is sent to the graveyard, you may add one 'Dance Steps – Medium' from your deck to your hand.

**S9 - ****Dance Steps – Medium – Continuous Spell**: This card can only be added to your hand by the effect of 'Dance Steps – Easy' (if this card is drawn by another way, shuffle this card into your deck and draw one more card). When this card is activated select one monster on the field. Increase the attack points of the selected monster by 400 points. When the selected monster inflicts damage to your opponent's life points, inflict an additional 300 points of damage to your opponent's life points. When this face up card is sent to the graveyard, you may add one 'Dance Steps – Hard' from your deck to your hand.

**T1 - ****Music in the Streets – Trap**: Add one level four or lower 'Tune' or 'Tuner' monster from your deck to your hand (the added card cannot be summoned during the turn this card was activated).

**T2 - ****Easy on the Newbie – Normal Trap**: The opposing player cannot attack the monster on your side of the Field with the lowest attack power until the end of the turn that this card was activated.

**T3 - ****Continue? – Normal Trap**: You may only activate this card during the battle phase of a turn in which monster(s) on the side of your field were destroyed and sent to the graveyard. Return 1 of the destroyed monster(s) to play, in exactly the same condition it was in when it was destroyed. The selected monster cannot be destroyed as the result of battle until the end of a turn this card activates.


	16. 9A: The Onslaught of a New Rival!

**Author's note: **Three new characters have appeared in this chapter. Although, I'm not sure if I should keep them. I probably won't post the next chapter till after the July 4 weekend because I'll be at AX Con! But don't let that stop you from enjoying and sending a review lol. Thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX. Credit goes to GLL99 for GX episode 10.

**

* * *

Episode 9: The Onslaught of a New Rival!**

The sun was shining bright as it provided the natural heat. The ocean was roaring as its waves crashed against the island. The birds were cawing as they flew across the clear sky. The plants were glistening with life as they celebrated a new day. Yes, it was another peaceful day on the island. On this wonderful day that should be enjoyed outside, the Duelists of the South Duel Academy were sadly stuck in classrooms for their daily lectures. The three Osiris Red Duelists were suffering the most because they had to deal with their least favorite teacher of all, Professor Carol Morgan, the Headmistress of Osiris Red Girls' dorms.

Morgan on the other hand was perfectly content as she was teaching the class the wonders of the politics. On the subject, politics, Morgan was happily talking about how tortures were outlawed in the world but it was still used in practice all over in prisons. Already on the table was filled with various kinds of torture devices that were supposedly allowed under the Geneva Convention, Professor Morgan picked one of them and held it as it was an expensive valuable, "Class, this is…"

"Arghhhhhhhhhh! Who wants to hear this stupid lady talks about torture? I can't handle this! I want to leave this damn classroom!" The Narrator rubbed his head frantically out of frustration. He then stopped rubbing his head as he realized, "Oh…I'm not a character in the classroom…I don't need to go through this lecture! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Tsubaki's eyes glinted evilly as he pounced at the Narrator.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The Narrator sent out a loud bloody murder cry.

Izumi blinked as she noticed that Tsubaki came back to his desk quietly, "Where did you go?"

Tsubaki groaned as his head just dropped on the table, "I went to beat up some invisible guy called the Narrator. I must be so bored that my brain is all messed up."

Izumi sighed as she agreed with him completely, "Yeah, I know the same feeling. Listening to Professor Morgan just make you want to beat someone up."

Tsubaki chuckled, "I guess that's why she's not Headmistress of higher level dorms or the duelists will beat her up."

Izumi laughed softly, making sure not to be loud enough to disturb the class, "You're right!" She continued laughing as she twisted her head from Tsubaki to Kurai sitting next to her. She wondered if Kurai heard the joke too but she stopped laughing as she saw Kurai's solemn expression. She asked, "Yuki?"

Kurai didn't answer nor made any indication that he heard her. His face expressed that he was in deep thoughts.

Izumi frowned as she felt slightly upset that Kurai didn't answer her, "I wonder what's up with Yuki?" She knew Tsubaki heard her.

Tsubaki shrugged, "Who knows? I bet he's trying to think of the fastest way to rise to Obelisk Blue without us."

Little that Tsubaki knows that he was right. Kurai was indeed thinking of ways of climbing to the elated status of Obelisk Blue. He had a serious frown on his face, expressing his deep pondering of the circumstance he was in. He muttered, _'Of all the rotten luck, I'm stuck in the lowest pile of shit. If I haven't saved that stupid girl, I would have a higher chance of being in Obelisk Blue or maybe Ra Yellow. Hmph, but even Ra Yellow is not going to help me much. No matter how high your scores are on the exams, you will never be in Obelisk Blue in your first year unless you have some fancy connections like that rich smiling bastard.' _He gritted his teeth, _'It's clear that in order to become Obelisk Blue, I just need to defeat the best of the best.' _He sighed out of frustration, _'But where the hell is the Dynast anyway? I guess I have to ask the Headmaster of Obelisk Blue dorms or that annoying blonde rich bimbo.' _His eyes widened out of realization, _'Wait a minute…who the hell is the Headmaster of Obelisk Blue?' _

Professor Morgan placed the torture device down on the table, "Now, can anyone tell me how are we capable of using tortures if the world government banned them?" The students quickly changed their bored looks into attentive looks as they all knew that the female professor personally like to prey on unsuspecting students. She noticed a certain cold student wasn't paying attention. She narrowed her eyes angrily as she strongly dislike renegades that can't even follow simple classroom rules. She called, "Kurai Yuki."

Izumi and Tsubaki suddenly paled as they knew that the Professor was calling their classmate. They knew that ever since the Entrance duel, the Professor held a grudge on Kurai. They quickly glanced at Kurai, who just stared back with boredom in his amber eyes. They sweat-dropped as they knew that something bad is going to happen.

Morgan coughed to clear her throat, "Kurai Yuki!"

Kurai replied annoyingly, "…What do you want, old hag?" He knew that if he didn't answer anytime soon, the Professor was just going to annoy him even more.

The entire class gasped as nobody should dare insult the teacher, especially the cruelest teacher of this Duel Academy. Morgan's blood boiled as she felt incredibly offended by Kurai's insult. The female professor took a deep breath and sighed, _'Calm down, he's just a stupid troublemaker that just wants attention.'_

Kurai interrupted, "Well, Professor Hag?" He sounded more annoyed.

Morgan's eyes suddenly glinted with demonic aura as she suddenly picked up a very dangerous wooden bat with nails embedded on it, "SILENCE, KURAI YUKI!" She pointed the bat to Kurai dramatically, "If you continue with that sort of misbehavior, I will…!"

Izumi and Tsubaki panicked and was about to interfered until..

"Ah, Professor Morgan!" Lisa, the snotty rich Obelisk Blue, interrupted the Professor and caught her full attention, "I heard from a little bird," She winked at Vanessa, her loyal friend and another Obelisk Blue, "that we're going to have an important guest coming from the Pro Leagues?"

The students gasped again but not out of shock but interest. They suddenly started gossiping among each other, wanting to know every bit of information about this guest from the Pro Leagues."

"An important guest from the Pro League?" Tsubaki's voice was dripped with excitement, "So that means what Alex said is true!"

"Could it be?" Izumi remembered an important person. She clasped her hands together with stars shining in her eyes, "Could it be my older sister?"

"Huh?" Tsubaki looked at her strangely.

"Er…nothing…" Izumi blushed out of embarrassment, _'I don't think she's that important yet..'_

Professor Morgan cleared her throat loudly to silence the excited class, "That's correct. We do have an important person coming directly from the Pro Leagues himself because he's a student here."

The students yelled as they were stunned in disbelief. They immediately talked among themselves. They knew that if Pro League Duelist is a student, he must be some kind of prodigy.

Morgan interrupted, "However, he's a student of Obelisk Blue which is not under my jurisdiction. So don't think of getting any information from me."

The class whined in disappointment.

"Oh? But Obelisk Blue is under my jurisdiction, so I can give out information." A sultry voice grabbed the entire class's attention.

Lisa called out, "Headmistress Zenobia!"

Zenobia was standing on the doorway, holding a folder. She gave a very sweet smile, "Why, hello class, and hello to you too, Professor Morgan."

Morgan narrowed her eyes dangerously, "Why are you here?"

Zenobia smiled innocently, "I was just delivering files until I overheard you mentioned the Pro League student. As Headmistress of Obelisk Blue, I felt it's my obligation to tell everyone here that the Pro League Duelist who will be their classmate soon is Leroy Eagles."

Kurai's eyes widened slightly out of complete interest.

Lisa shrieked like a super excited obsessive fan girl, "Lord Leroy is coming here?" She shrieked again except louder than the first. Poor Vanessa had to cover her ears with custom material ear plugs to stand Lisa's drum piercing screams. Of course, it didn't help when more girls joined in the cheering.

Zenobia smirked, "Oh? Did I forget to mention that he's going to be arriving in the port soon?"

The class suddenly became thrilled. Excited fans especially fan girls were already running to leave the classroom.

"QUIET!" Morgan suddenly broke the bat on the pedestal, "Class is still in session…if any of you don't get back to your seat soon…" Angry aura slowly spread from her shaking body, "you'll instantly be demoted to Osiris Red!"

"Ehhhhh?" The class panicked.

Random Osiris Red student couldn't help but asked out of curiosity, "Um…what about us? We're already in Osiris Red."

Morgan snapped, "Any current Osiris Reds will get expelled!"

The Osiris Reds panicked the most, "EHHHHHHH?" The fans quickly went back to their seats.

Morgan glared at Zenobia, "Miss Zenobia, what do you plan on gaining by interrupting my class?"

Zenobia just put her finger seductively under her own chin and smirked, "I just want to spread the good news. It's not like I want to interrupt my fellow co-worker's class."

Morgan snarled, "You…"

Zenobia smiled, "Now, Now, not in front of the children." She laughed snobbishly as she left the classroom.

Morgan gritted her teeth as she clenched her broken bat so tightly that it shattered into splinters. This caused the class to cringe in fear.

"Leroy Eagles?" Izumi blinked in confusion as she wasn't familiar with that name.

"Oh god," Tsubaki looked at Izumi, "Please don't tell me you never heard of Leroy."

Izumi swayed her head in honesty.

Tsubaki stared at Izumi with disbelief, "Have you live under a rock or something?"

Izumi frowned at that insult, "Well, sorry. I'm not that obsessed with dueling to look it up and know who the Pro League Duelists are."

Tsubaki laughed, "Ha! Yeah, you're the DDR obsessed fanatic."

"Oh shut up," Izumi pouted, "You're making me wish that Wolx should replace you as my friend."

"Alright, alright," Tsubaki decided to explain, "Leroy Eagles is actually the young prodigy who joined the Pro Leagues couple of months ago at the age of 14," Izumi's eyes widened in surprise, "Yeah, I know. He joined at such a young age but that caused a riot among other Duelists because they wouldn't accept such a young kid. But Leroy was really strong. He shut those grubby Duelists up with his strength of his Equipment deck. Heh, I wonder if I can get an autograph from him."

"Wow, he's really that incredible, huh?" Izumi commented.

Kurai listened to their whole conversation. He had heard of Leroy and his triumphs at the Pro League after all Leroy was one of his targets. He narrowed his amber eyes and smirked slightly, _'If I can beat this guy…then..'_

* * *

The class bell ran and the entire class quickly left the classroom, not wanting to stay another second with that dull lecture. The students immediately continued their gossips, mainly about Leroy. Kurai, on the other hand, just want to leave the crowd and find solitude especially when he needed it to come up with a plan to defeat Leroy.

"Hey, wait up!" Izumi called out to Kurai as she ran up to him with Tsubaki.

Tsubaki complained, "Man, I'm starving. Let's go to the cafeteria."

Kurai twitched as he desperately wished for solitude away from those two. He growled, "Do whatever you want. Don't involve me." He walked forward as to ignore the other two Osiris Reds.

"Lord Yuki!" A shrill voice shouted his name.

Kurai frozed as he recognized the voice. He moaned to himself out of great annoyance.

Izumi sighed as she knew the owner of the voice, "Great…it's her majesty."

"Lord Yuki!" Lisa was running toward Kurai in slow motion with her assets moving so fluidly with the flower petals flowing in her direction. She stopped in front of Kurai and clasped her hands, trying to make herself looked very cute, "Oh Lord Yuki, I'm so glad that you are safe."

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "He wasn't really in danger." He sweat-dropped even more as he noticed Vanessa panting heavily as she finally caught up with Lisa and dropped a heavy bucket filled with flower petals.

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Um, you okay?"

Vanessa panted, "Just fine…thank you…"

"Oh Lord Yuki," Lisa put her hands on her bosom, "My heart was beating a thousand a minute with FEAR that the cruel Professor was about to give you a horrible and unjust punishment. It was a good thing that I prevented it for you…out of love." Her eyes shook with hearts and sparkles.

Kurai's right eye twitched out of utter disgust. He turned away from Lisa, not wanting to do anything with her. He then realized that he needed more information about Leroy and glanced back, "Hey…"

Tsubaki and Izumi gaped, "Yuki is actually talking to Lisa?"

Lisa gasped and looked at Kurai with dreamy eyes, "Yes, Lord Yuki?"

Kurai's right eye twitched again but he continued, "What do you know about Leroy Eagles?"

"Oh, Lord Leroy?" Lisa's dreamy eyes became proud with her hands in the air as she was the wielder of gossip, "Lord Leroy is a top notch Pro League Duelist who only joined a year ago. So to the eyes of the Duelists his age, it's a remarkable feat but of course to the eyes of the experienced and older Duelists, it's jealousy in their eyes. Lord Leroy crushed those experienced Duelists with his Equipment deck made to counter every possible move. Not only that, he's sponsored by the Senrigan Group."

Izumi's eyes blinked with curiosity as she mentioned, "The Senrigan Group?"

Vanessa whispered to Izumi's ears, "It's one of the top business groups. It's so powerful that it is in tier with the Manjoume group."

Izumi blinked even more in confusion, "The Manjoume group?"

Tsubaki yelled out of frustration and grabbed Izumi's head. He shook it roughly, "How can you be a duelist if you don't know this sort of stuff?"

Izumi groaned, "Tsubaki! Let go of my head! You're making all my dueling lessons falling out of my brain!"

Tsubaki shook it even more, "You probably don't even remember it anyway if you don't know the Senrigan Group and the Manjoume Group!"

Izumi's forehead vien twitched out of anger and she gave a powerful punch that sent Tsubaki crashing into the wall, "Just because I don't know this sort of stuff doesn't mean I'm stupid!" She looked at Vanessa with pleading eyes, "Please explain."

Vanessa nodded her head and then answered, "The Manjoume Group is a famous company owned by three brothers. They were trying to rule the world by financial, political, and duel monster. Their youngest brother is the number one elite Obelisk Blue First Year at the Duel Academia."

Izumi understood, "Ohhh…so which direction is Duel Academia? We're at the South Duel Academy, right?"

Tsubaki came back from the dead, "Right! But Duel Academia is on different level from North, South, East, and West Duel Academies. Only the best of the best get to be accepted to Duel Academia by passing the toughest Kaiba Corporation sponsored Duel test in Domino City while we're stuck on South Duel Academy. This place is not bad but Duel Academia is still the number one mostly because every Duelist from that place always won the Duel Academies ranking tournament every year."

Izumi exclaimed, "Wow, they're that good?" She questioned, "Then what ranking is this school out of five?"

Tsubaki shrugged as he didn't know the answer, "It's really hard to say because all four schools beside Duel Academia had some wins and losses."

Kurai overheard their conversations especially the one about the Duel Academia and how the best of the best was chosen for that place. He narrowed his amber eyes, _'That person…is there...'_

Lisa interrupted Kurai's train of thoughts, "Lord Yuki, would you like to know more about Lord Leroy? His height? His weight? His ranking on handsome chart?"

Kurai's right eye twitched at that last question. He sighed out of great annoyance but continued asking, "What is his ranking among the Obelisk Blues?"

Lisa looked surprised and she frowned in deep thoughts, "I can't really say because this is the first time I heard of Lord Leroy being an Obelisk Blue," She giggled flirtingly, "But I'll be very happy to tell you my ranking."

With that, Kurai just walked off.

Tsubaki shouted, "Hey, wait for us!" He and Izumi quickly followed Kurai.

"Lord Yuki!" Lisa cried out his name out of desperation. She moped sadly as she watched him walked off in a hurried pace. She then smirked, "He wants me."

Vanessa had a huge sweat-drop on the back of her head as she was thinking one word only, "denial."

* * *

As soon as the three Osiris Reds left the Duel Academy and headed toward their dorms, Izumi decided to continue the conversation, "Hey, Yuki, how come you want to know about Leroy's ranking?"

Kurai didn't answer as he was still pondering about Leroy's rank.

Tsubaki sighed and crossed his arms, "I bet he's thinking of challenging Leroy to a duel in order to improve his own rank."

Izumi chuckled, "That does seem like him. Do you think he could win?"

Tsubaki scoffed, "Please, Yuki can't win against Pro League Duelist." He suddenly felt a deathly cold shivers in his backbone, "Eh?" He looked toward Kurai who was giving the death glare, "Er…I mean…you could win!"

Izumi sweat-dropped and she helped defend Tsubaki, "Yeah, you could win since you defeated Shadow right? That notorious duelist that defeat many Pro Duelists!"

Kurai frowned as he looked back, his eyes away from the other. He remembered his duel with Shadow and his forest elves deck. He grumbled to himself, _'…Sadly…I have to admit that I wouldn't have won if I didn't have an elf card in my mercenary deck…he is really tough…' _

"Still, since Yuki brought it up, I really wonder what rank is Leroy?" Izumi asked.

"Hmm…" Tsubaki thought hard, "He is the Pro League Duelist, so his ranking should be high…but then…he doesn't attend classes or take tests like the rest of us. Plus, he might be a transfer student."

"Actually, he is an Obelisk Blue student from the very start of the year." A familiar voice popped out of nowhere.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tsubaki screamed out of fright.

Izumi sighed, "Hello, Alexander..."

Alexander smiled, "Ah, Izumi is used to me?"

Izumi rolled her eyes, "I'm not quite sure about that. I can get used to you or sometimes you just scare the heck out of me."

Kurai looked back toward the group, "You know something about Leroy?"

Alexander smiled knowingly, "Of course since I get to work with the staff and professors, I know more about Leroy."

Tsubaki calmed down and asked, "You say that he was a student from the very beginning of our year…how come we never seem him take classes or tests?"

Alexander smiled, "That's because he took his classes at the Pro League. The Senrigan group does pay really well to find a teacher for him. He also took his tests there too and just sent it back to the Duel Academy for grading."

Tsubaki felt annoyed, "How convenient for him to take his education at the Pro League unlike us."

Izumi asked, "So what's his ranking then?"

Alexander smiled, "He's the number one Obelisk Blue of First year."

Izumi gaped, "Eh, seriously? I thought you would be number one?"

Alexander laughed, "I'm honored but I'm not worthy of that position."

Kurai glared, "Are you telling the truth?"

Alexander stopped laughing and smiled slightly as he glanced at Kurai, "Why should I lie?"

Kurai narrowed his amber eyes but then he smirked, "Then I'll challenge that guy to a duel."

Tsubaki gaped, "Seriously?" He sighed out of exasperation, "Why I am not surprised?"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "But Yuki…if he is really an important duelist….why would he agree to your challenge?"

Kurai crossed his arms, "All Duelists have their pride. He wouldn't refuse a challenge."

Izumi looked at Kurai strangely and commented, "Is this a manly thing or something?"

Tsubaki replied, "Nah, it's a duelist thing…not that you would know of.."

Izumi twitched and gave him a painful elbow jab in the chest, "I'm a duelist, okay? So stop it with the jokes."

Tsubaki winced, "Hai…"

Alexander chuckled as he enjoyed watching the others' reactions, "Ah." He just remembered, "I forgot to tell you that Leroy already arrived here on a secret boat."

There was a long silence between three Osiris Red duelists. One of them wanted his autograph. The other was curious about him. The last one just wanted to duel him.

The others quickly hurried to the port. Tsubaki was running as fast as his legs could take him, "Finally, you told us something really worth our while, Alex!"

Alexander chuckled as he ran behind, "Does that mean other times I didn't say anything useful? I would be so deeply offended if you felt that way."

"Eh…well," Tsubaki didn't like Alexander's tone and hastily changed the subject, "come on, guys, if we manage to make it, we'll see Leroy!"

Kurai was running ahead of the group as he just wanted to beat the Pro League duelist in hopes of reaching his goal faster.

Izumi laughed happily as she was following the guys, "I don't know why but there's something exciting about being the first to see him."'

Alexander smiled, "The amazing effect of a celebrity. You get excited to meet him even if you don't know who he is."

Izumi grinned, "Plus not to mention I can brag to Lisa about having his autograph first before her." She laughed evilly.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Please don't involve us in your cat fights."

* * *

In record's time, the quad managed to arrive at the port just to see that there was no ship.

Tsubaki stopped running, "Oh man! Did we miss him? I wanted his autograph"

Kurai silently cursed at his current luck.

Izumi sighed as she shrugged and swayed her head, "I guess you can't have everything."

"What are you guys doing here?" A rough male voice questioned them. The teens looked back to see Tyrell.

"Ah, Professor Tyrell!" Izumi turned around to face him, "We were just here to see someone but I guess we missed him."

"To see someone?" Tyrell blinked and then he realized, "Oh, I get it…how do you know? Hmm?"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Er…um…"

Alexander smiled as he chipped in, "I did, Professor Tyrell. I hope you forgive me but they seemed so excited to meet him."

"Eh, really?" Tyrell was surprised but he then grinned, "That's great! I know you guys never met him before but to know that you guys want to see him with such enthusiasm. I never felt so proud!"

Izumi chuckled nervously, "It's not that great. We just want to check him out."

"Actually, I want his autograph!" Tsubaki claimed excitedly.

Tyrell laughed heartily, "Ha! Ha! Ha! His autograph, huh? I'm not sure about that but he's awesome! Speaking of awesome, remember Hayato?"

Alexander smiled, "Who can ever forget that name?"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Well, you can't really forget his name after seeing his picture….no offense…"

Tsubaki was confused as it was his first time hearing that name, "Who's Hayato?"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Hayato is student at Duel Academia….and he's Tyrell's apprentice…I think…"

Tyrell grinned, "It was few years ago, when I met his father whose man of all men, I decided to teach his son, Hayato, how to duel! And I never felt so proud of him now!"

Izumi asked, "How come?"

Tyrell answered, "Well, Kuma, the father, just told me that he came to get Hayato back home because he's being such a dead beat."

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Well…you did say Hayato is the lowest of Osiris Red…"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "This Hayato kid is starting to sound kinda pitiful…"

Tyrell smirked, "Wait, there's more! Hayato actually stood up to his father in a duel! Hayato really showed him how manly he is! As his former teacher, I'm so extremely proud!" Then they heard a loud horn, "Oh, the ship's here!"

"Eh, we're not late?" Tsubaki couldn't believe their luck. The others watched a small private ship sailed up to the port and anchored itself there. The crew quickly set up a drawbridge to the port. The teens stood there, watching with anticipation as they watched a tall shadow coming out to the drawbridge.

"Hey, wait a minute," Tsubaki get a closer look at the shadow walking down the walkbridge. Tsubaki pointed, "That's not Leroy!"

"Leroy?" Tyrell looked at his student in surprise, "What are you talking about? Of course, it's not him."

All Osiris Reds stared in Tyrell with various expressions of disbelief. They suddenly glared at Alexander.

Alexander smiled with closed eyes, "I was telling the truth but I didn't say when he already arrived here."

Kurai glared at Alexander intensely, "I don't care if you mess around with those idiots…." Earning a "Hey!" from Tsubaki and Izumi. Kurai changed his look into a killer death glare, "But if you mess with me…"

Alexander smiled, "Don't you want to at least check out who just arrived?"

At the end of walk-bridge, the teens saw a tall muscular man dressed in a tailored well-made grey suit with a blue trench-coat. He wore a white fedora over his raised black hair and sharp locks in front of his ears. He had a serious face with light blue eyes.

Izumi gasped in awe, "Woah! He's really tall!"

Kurai narrowed his eyes as his attention shifted from Alexander to the tall muscular stranger. He could sense a strong aura shouting from this man. Right away, Kurai could sense that this man was no ordinary person.

Tyrell walked up to him and greeted, "Hey, Gabe! Welcome back! You're just in time for the Promotion Exam!"

Gabe replied, "It's good to be back."

"So how's your trip?" Tyrell looked behind Gabe and glanced around, "And where's Jim? I thought he went with you?"

Gabe picked up his suitcase brought by the sailors, "He's staying a little longer. You know how he is with the ruins."

Tyrell blinked, "You're leaving a 1st year alone out there?"

Gabe crossed his arms, "He's in capable hands."

Tyrell chuckled, "Well, okay, I trust your judgment but I'm going to miss Karen then.

"She'll be fine too." Gabe noticed the students, "And you?"

Izumi replied, "Um…I'm Izumi Kitamori of Osiris Red!"

Tsubaki spoke next, "And I'm Tsubaki Ryozai!"

Alexander smiled, "My name is Alexander Von Schroeder. It's a honor to finally meet you, sir."

Gabe narrowed his eyes, "So you're Alexander from Von Schroder…I heard of your reputation."

Alexander smiled, "So do I, sir."

Tsubaki asked, "Hey, Alex, do you know this guy?"

Gabe introduced himself, "I'm Gabriel, the Headmaster of Obelisk Blue dorms."

Tsubaki blinked and then screamed in surprise, "Eh? The Headmaster of Obelisk Blue Dorms!"

Kurai stared intently at Gabriel, _'So this guy is the Headmaster of Obelisk Blue boys…'_

Gabriel felt Kurai's intense stare. He turned to face Kurai's amber eyes, "And you are?"

Kurai just stared at Gabriel as he was having a staring contest. He finally answered, "Kurai Yuki."

Gabriel's eyes widened only slightly, "I see…so you're the duelist I heard so much about from Tyrell. It's such a shame."

Kurai glared, "What do you mean by that?"

Gabriel closed his eyes, "I can tell you already have the skills worthy of Obelisk Blue but the rules are the rules. You'll have to earn your way up."

Kurai scoffed, "I planned to."

Tyrell patted Gabriel's back, "Come on, big guy. The Principal is waiting for you."

Gabriel nodded and looked back at the students, "Pardon us." He walked ahead to the Duel Academy, followed by Tyrell.

Izumi continued watching them until they disappeared from her view, "He seemed like a nice person. Serious but he's not cold."

Tsubaki joked, "At least, we now solve the mystery of the unknown Headmaster of Obelisk Blue. Now, we just need to know who the Principal is." He became serious, "but that's not important! What's important right now is that where's Leroy?"

Alexander smiled sadistically, "Oh, I just now remember that Leroy's ship actually arrived a hour ago and now he's at the Obelisk Blue dorms where Osiris Red and Ra Yellow are not allowed."

All three Osiris reds looked at Alexander with annoyed looks.

Alexander chuckled, "That's a good reaction."

* * *

Meanwhile, Alexander's words were true. The Pro League Duelist, Leroy Eagles, was currently resting in the Obelisk Blue dorms. In one of the five star bedrooms, a teenage boy was resting on the dark blue sofa talking on a black PDA.

The teenage boy had a handsome look with sharp features. He had natural messy spiky hair with bangs all over his head. The most noticeable part about his hair style that his frontal bangs were neatly diagonal to the left over his forehead with the length ended above his left eye and the long bangs that framed the side of his faces. His hair color was darkish orange with the tip of the bangs darkened into brown. His eyes colors were sky blue. He was wearing black jeans and long-sleeved dark blue shirt along with a simple Obelisk Blue sleeveless uniform jacket.

Leroy was talking to a woman with long and curvy purple hair on his black PDA, "Is it really necessary to be taking a break from the Pro League? I was doing fine with one hundred percent win record."

"Don't be cocky, Eagles." The purple haired woman retorted, "I know you have a lot of victories but don't let arrogance run to your head for the Pro League can be a dangerous. In your young age, one loss will ruin your precious reputation as the Pro duelist."

Leroy frowned as he hated being lectured, "I know. I know, Emeralda. I don't need to hear it again." He smirked, "All I have to do is not lose, right?"

Emeralda sighed, "You'll be back in the Pro League soon. Just stay here in Duel Academy and try not to get in trouble. If you do, the Chairman will be disappointed."

Leroy looked away with annoyance. He scoffed, "I know. Bye." He turned off his PDA. He closed his eyes as he just wanted to rest and ignored the lecture that his sponsor gave him, "My weapons….craves for battle…."

Annoyed voice interrupted Leroy's rest with sarcasm, "You're done with my room, your royal highness?"

Leroy scowled out of hatred and glanced at another teenage boy typing away on his computer. The boy was dressed in Obelisk Blue uniform cloak and had neatly combed sandy blonde hair from the looks of his behind. Leroy growled, "I'm letting you say whatever you want because you gave me valuable information that granted me victories in the Pro League, Ethan, the Profiler of Obelisk Blue."

Ethan just typed away on his computer, his focused blue eyes with glasses staring at the screen with many data on all kinds of duelists, "I'm so honored. I'm only helping you because you will grant me a chance to challenge Alexander Von Schroeder." Even though, Ethan was in Obelisk Blue, he knew that his status was not important as Alex's royal linage.

Leroy rolled his eyes, "Of course. You will get to fight him in the Promotion Exam coming up. I wonder if there's any interesting opponent in the Promotion Exam." He frowned, "If I were two years older, I would get to fight the Dynast." He gritted his teeth, "Then again, if the Manjoume group had not sent their youngest brother to the Duel Academia first, the Senrigan group would have sent me first." He sat up on the sofa, "I'm much better than the kid can be. My weapons will shoot him down."

Ethan's eyes glinted, "You do realize that Manjoume lost to an Osiris Red on the Promotion Exam at Duel Academia?"

Leroy's eyes widened and he yelled, "Seriously?" He smirked, "Serve him right. He's all talks but he can't beat Osiris Red."

Ethan typed more as he brought up Manjoume Jun's profile, "Actually, with his skill level, he can defeat many Obelisk Blues….apparently, the Osiris Red that he lost to is some kind of miracle kid." He brought up a profile that said the name, Judai, but had no picture, "I don't have much information on him."

Leroy rolled his eyes, "That miracle kid probably has pure luck then."

"Speaking of miracles, we do have our own miracle student here and it's not you." Data were scrolling up and down as Ethan was searching for a certain name.

Leroy narrowed his eyes as he felt his status was threatened, "Who?"

Ethan chuckled, "He's an Osiris Red too…...Yuki Kurai…he defeated Professor Tyrell at the Entrance Exam."

Leroy scoffed as he looked away, "I saw that Professor. He's a sorry excuse for a teacher."

Ethan looked at the Osiris Red student's data more, "He also had a duel with Hyun-Ki of the Second Year. That battle has no conclusion though…He defeated Domon, another Second Year of Ra Yellow but what's more fascinating is the fact that he defeated a renegade Duelist."

Leroy glanced at Ethan, "A renegade Duelist…Who?"

Ethan said one word, "Shadow."

Leroy's eyes turned wide as dinner plates. He stood up to confirm, "Are you sure! Are you telling me an Osiris Red defeat Shadow? The mysterious Duelist cloaked in black who challenged Pro League and Underground Duelists from left to right!" He narrowed his eyes, _'The same Duelist who led my father to his early grave!'_

Ethan didn't say anything. His silence just confirmed his answer to Leroy's questions.

Leroy clenched his fists and glared, "…I see…if that lowlife red defeated Shadow…that mean he was here…where is Shadow?"

Ethan shrugged, "Again, he vanished without a trace."

Leroy slammed the coffee table in front of him, "Unforgivable! I won't be able to give my father the reputation he deserves if I don't defeat Shadow!" He then realized, "…how many people knew that Osiris Red defeat Shadow?"

Ethan pressed more buttons and various windows popped up on the screen, "Only the South Duel Academy."

Leroy smirked, "Then tell the press about him."

Ethan was surprised and for the first time, he looked back at Leroy, "You want me to tell the reporters about an Osiris Red defeating Shadow….what's your purpose?"

Leroy chuckled evilly, "If I can show the Duel world, that I defeat the guy who defeated Shadow…my reputation will increase and my status as Pro League Duelist will be unshakable." He silently thought the last statement, _'And my father's ruined reputation will be restored.'_

* * *

Soon, the next day came and students of all dorms were inside the dueling arena of the Duel Academia anticipating the main event of the day, a tag duel that determines the status of two Osiris Red students.

"So, it starts at last…" Misawa too was watching with anticipation.

"A Tag Duel…" A female voice caught Misawa's attention.

Misawa was a little surprised to see who it was.

"Judai may have said he have never been in one before…" Asuka sat in the audience chair nearby Misawa.

"You're Asuka Tenjouin from Obelisk Blue." Misawa didn't expect her to have a connection with Judai.

"It seems you have somewhat of a connection with Judai, as well." Asuka shared the same reaction as Misawa as she didn't expect the number one Ra Yellow to know Judai well.

"Right." Misawa confirmed and looked back to the arena.

Asuka looked back at the arena too, "It's my fault this happened. And he should have really been partnered with me. But even so, I have a feeling that he'll managed to pull through…"

At the far end of the audience seats, Manjoume was seating alone. Ever since his humiliating loss to Judai in the promotion exam, his fellow lackeys don't hang out with him anymore. He was feeling very pissed after his conversation with Chronos who warned him that Manjoume will be dropped to Ra Yellow if he continue losing. He silently cursed at his circumstances but he then noticed Judai and Sho walking up to the stage. He cursed more as he stomped the chair in front of him, causing others to notice him.

Judai glanced around, "Wow! It sure is packed!"

Sho blinked as he couldn't believe his eyes, "We're dueling in front of such a big crowd?" He was getting nervous.

Judai grinned as he rubbed Sho's spiky hair, "So let's put some fire into it!" He walked ahead to the stage.

Sho smiled as he felt a little embarrassed of Judai's affection, "Geez, come on, Aniki." He followed Judai.

Manjoume clenched his fist, "Yuki Judai! I wanted to crush you with my own hands!"

Both Osiris Red duelists climbed up the small stairs into the arena. Judai then noticed something, "Oh?" He saw Hayato showing up, "Hayato's here."

Sho also saw Hayato too, "You're right."

Hayato grabbed the handrail behind the audience seats as he sighed out of relief. He wiped the sweat off his forehead after running all the way here from Osiris Red dorms, "Thank goodness…I made it just in time…"

"Yo!" Judai waved to Hayato.

Not only Hayato was watching but the Kaiser too. Ryo was standing at the border walkway behind the audience seats as he wanted to observe his little brother's tag duel, _'Sho…in this duel, show me your merit as a duelist.'_

Sho just put on his duel disk as he then noticed his older brother was observing, _'Onii-san…' _He walked back to the arena, _'Just you watch, Onii-san…'_

Chronos announced, "Well then, we will now begin this tag duel!"

**

* * *

Part A End**

Yes, we all know what's the next half is going to be. The Dueling Chapter, the very bane of my life, lol.


	17. 9B: The Onslaught of a New Rival!

**Author's note: **This is really long chapter, dang. Duel chapters will always be the bane of my life. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it and I hate the corny names for the new character's cards. Anyhow, thanks to my reviewers! Although I'm wishing I could get more because reviews can inspire a writer a lot.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! Credits goes to GLL99 for subs of GX Episode 11.

**

* * *

Episode 9 – Part B!**

The commercial screen showed Kurai in his glory standing with his arms crossed in front of E-Merc Stone Guarder. The typical logo of Yugioh GX appeared at the bottom right corner.

Kurai just stared at the screen with a bored expression.

The narrator sweat-drop as he felt uncomfortable with the main character's stare, "What?"

Kurai sighed, "Why is it one of the low-level E-Mercs again when I have cooler fusions that appeared before?"

The narrator sweat-dropped and sighed tiredly, "I'm not even going to argue with you because I'm tired of this super long chapter, so I don't want to make it even longer by wasting my breath on you who always complain to me, you big cold hearted stiff bastard!"

Kurai scowled, "What?"

The narrator panicked, "Ah crap, I just insulted the main character. Moving on with the story before I die!"

* * *

At the Obelisk Blue dorms or should I say mansion, there lied a special room preserved for important guests of the Duel Academy. It was a room where at least ten people can sleep easily in without a tight squeeze and bunk beds. It was a room where the entire floor was made entirely out of expensive carpets and filled entirely with expensive bedroom furniture, including furniture for sitting and dining space. All the windows were covered by floor-to-ceiling long midnight blue-colored silk curtains to obscure the blazing sunlight from the great ball of fire. The room was entirely dark but lightly dimmed with the glowing sunlight hidden by the curtains. A young man with messy dyed golden hair was lying on a king-sized bed surrounded by canopies. That man was Hyun-Ki, one of the best Obelisk Blues of the Second year. He was usually around the campus with his bandana and sunglasses but today, he wasn't wearing his sunglasses but his eyes were shut closed as he couldn't open them. Hyun-Ki heard soft footsteps on the carpet. He mentioned the name of the owner of those footsteps, "Kwang?" He could recognize footsteps of the people close to him because his hearing was incredibly sharp.

An orange-haired guy with red eyes stopped walking. He was holding a tray with a bowl of soup, "Master Hyun-Ki, it's time for your lunch."

Hyun-Ki growled.

Kwang sweat-dropped, "Oh come on! I can't call you master in public but in private too?"

Hyun-Ki sighed out of exasperation, "I don't like anyone calling me Master. For goodness sake, I'm a regular teenager and Duelist."

Kwang pointed out, "Who is also the son of an important Ceo. in Korea."

Hyun-Ki groaned, "I hate that part."

Kwang set the tray down on the night table next to Hyun-Ki's bed, "But that's not why I called you Master." He pulled up a chair from close by and sat by the bedside, "Eun Mi, Jae-Sun, Sang Min, and I owned our lives to you. You saved all four of us from poverty and that we intend to pay back with our eternal services and undying loyalty."

Hyun-Ki rolled his head across his pillow, "Yeah, yeah, I know that. Seriously, read different books and spare me the corny lines."

Kwang smacked his head, "I don't think they're corny."

Hyun-Ki winced, "My eternal servant hit me in the head!"

Kwang's forehead vein twitched, "You deserved it for that insult." He picked up the bowl of soup, "Now eat."

Hyun-Ki shuddered as he caught a whiff of the soup, "Not broccoli again! You're going to poison me with the most disgusting vegetable in the world."

Kwang sighed, "It's good for your sickness. You know that, master idiot."

Hyun-Ki frowned, "You called me idiot with the master in it."

Kwang took the spoon out of the soup and held it near Hyun-Ki's mouth, "Now eat."

Hyun-Ki stuck his tongue, "Blah…"

Kwang held the spoon closer, "If you don't drink it now, I will force it in your mouth and you know I'm capable of doing that."

Hyun-Ki pretended, "Ah…oh no…my fever is coming back…losing conscious…"

Kwang stared at Hyun-Ki in silence as Hyun-Ki pretended to moan as he was in pain, "Well then, if you fell unconscious, I'll just have to feed you mouth to mouth."

Hyun-Ki coughed as he suddenly felt sick in the stomach. He yelled, "Okay! Okay! I'll drink the soup!" He reluctantly drank the soup until the bowl was empty because he knew that if he doesn't finish the soup, Kwang might do something drastic, "So, what's new in the Duel Academy?"

Kwang answered, "It seemed that Kurai Yuki is in the today's duel newspapers."

Hyun-Ki became interested, "Oh? What does he do to deserve such fame?"

Kwang took out a rolled up newspaper out of his pocket and glanced at it, "It seemed that someone spilled to the dueling community that Yuki defeated Shadow."

Hyun-Ki sighed out of boredom, "That's it? That's not new and it's going to happen eventually. His fame is going to be very short but knowing that guy, he probably won't even pay attention to it."

Kwang noted, "I know…but what's interesting was that…..Leroy Eagles was the one who spilled information to the community."

Hyun-Ki's face expressed surprise, "Really? The son of Chris Eagles? Hmm…his motive must be that then….so he's going to challenge Yuki, huh?"

Kwang asked, "Do you want me to witness their duel?"

Hyun-Ki chuckled, "Of course not…I already knew who's going to be the victor."

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the staff room of Duel Academy building, Morgan slammed her hand on a spread-out dueling newspapers on top of her desk, making a loud bang that echoed throughout the room. She hissed at Leroy standing nearby her, "What's the meaning of this?"

Leroy sighed annoyingly as he stated the obvious, "Isn't it clear? I challenged Kurai to a duel."

Morgan scowled at Leroy's haughty tone, "That's just fine and dandy! You could have a regular duel anytime but an official duel with publicity involved? Are you mad or insane? I don't care if you're some hotshot Pro League Duelist but there are rules to be followed! You can't have official duels with stakes involved unless we said so!" She glared at another bystander, "Isn't that right, Principal!"

The Principal, Kamil, who was dressed in his casual tropical outfit, sweat-dropped as he felt like he's the new target of Morgan's wrath, "Well…it's not really a big deal…because…he challenged our student as a Pro League Duelist, not another student…and…our precious children could use some entertainment."

Morgan's glare intensified, "I said…isn't that right, Principal?"

Kamil sweat-dropped even more and answered meekly, "Right, Carol." He looked away, _'Jeeze, why can't I just go fishing while cute little Rebecca deal with this?'_

Leroy scoffed, "I don't care about the rules, you stupid hag."

"What?" Morgan narrowed her eyes.

Leroy smirked, "I'm Leroy Eagles, the Pro League Duelist! You should be grateful that I was even part of this Duel Academy when I can join something else. Beside, your precious school is getting all the publicity now because of this duel."

Morgan's body shook as she tried to suppress her growing rage. She snapped, "I don't give a damn about your stupid status! You ain't that stupid dead beat duelist like Bandit Keith! There are laws to be followed! If you don't follow those laws, I'll take proper actions to bring you down, you stupid punk!"

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." A tall man stepped into the staff room.

Kamil, even though his eyes were closed, was happy with his arrival, "Gabe! Long time no see! I thought you were resting."

Gabe replied bluntly, "I was resting but Tyrell told me about the situation."

"Professor Gabriel," Morgan crossed her arms, "What do you mean by that? Are you saying I can't punish Mr. Eagles for going out of bounds?"

Gabriel crossed his arms as he answered, "I'm afraid not because Leroy Eagles is an Obelisk Blue student. He is under my guidance, so it's only proper that I decided how I should deal with him. Is that correct, Miss Morgan, Headmistress of Osiris Red?" As he said her name, his tone was very strong and firm, "And my choice is to let Leroy have this duel."

Morgan was taken aback by his strength, "But…he…"

Kamil interjected, "Miss Morgan, be aware of your position. You are responsible for Osiris Red just as Mr. Gabriel is responsible for Obelisk Blue."

Morgan frowned, "What's with the backbone, sir?"

Kamil smirked, "I always have a backbone. I just let you do what you want because I thought Gabe here would be too tired to deal with his student's problem. Now, Miss Morgan, I suggest you back down or I'll have to demote you."

Morgan pouted, "I don't see how that allowing the duel is a proper punishment!" She stormed off and left the room.

Leroy chuckled, "Nice…" He liked how things were going his way. He glanced at Gabe, "So you're the Headmaster of Obelisk Blue? I have to say you make the right choice by letting me duel."

Gabe gave Leroy a stern look, "I just pick the best choice. I hope you are aware of what might happen if you lose as a Pro League Duelist just like what happened to your father."

Leroy's eyes widened at the mention of his old man as it brought up unwanted memories. He gritted his teeth and declared, "That won't happen to me because I'm not going to lose!" He walked off and headed for the Dueling arena.

Kamil whistled as he was impressed with Leroy's anger, "Are you sure you want to allow this?"

Gabe crossed his arms, "A lesson is best taught with experiences. This will be good experience."

Kamil smirked, "For Leroy?"

Gabe replied, "….for both of them."

* * *

At the same time of their conversations, three Osiris Red students were having their conversations over lunch at the Osiris Red cafeteria.

Tsubaki gaped, "Ehhhhhhhhhh? How the hell did Yuki got on the news?" He was reading the Duelist's Newspaper.

Izumi quickly became curious, "Eh, Yuki is on the news? I want to read it!" She stood up and quickly got behind Tsubaki to see what he was reading. She gasped and glanced, "They're talking about your duel with Shadow!"

Kurai just ate his fish, yes, the ever wonderful fish from the ocean, you must have fish everyday. Kurai's eyes sent daggers at the narrator.

The narrator sweat-dropped. ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I'll come with a different menu! Jeeze!

Izumi blinked, "You're not interested? I thought you want to be the number one duelist and get fame?"

Kurai didn't answer as he continued to eating his dull every-day fish.

"In case you forgot, he's only interested in defeating one person plus…" Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "I think that he only wants to defeat strong people…like Leroy Eagles."

Izumi agreed, "You're probably right and it fits Yuki's personality more." She then realized, "Ah…how does the newspaper know that Yuki defeated Shadow? I thought only the people here knew about it."

Tsubaki put down the newspaper and crossed his arms, "Maybe Kurai told the newspaper…" They suddenly glanced at Kurai, who was still eating his…fish… Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Never mind, it doesn't really seem like him."

Voice, "Then clearly it was someone else who told the newspaper."

Tsubaki screamed as he suddenly saw Alexander standing right next to him, "AHHHHHHH!"

Izumi greeted, "Ah! Hello, Alex!"

Alexander smiled as he waved, "Hello, Izumi. I know the person who told the news of Yuki's victory over Shadow."

Izumi smacked the bottom of her fist on her palm as she knew that was going to happen, "I knew it! So who is it, Alex? Did you get from your secret sources or something?"

Alexander chuckled, "Oh nothing of the sort, Izumi. I got it from the newspaper in the article below Yuki's article."

Izumi blinked in surprise, "Eh?"

Tsubaki opened up the newspaper and glanced down further below from Yuki's article, "Hey, you're right!"

Izumi sweat-dropped as she felt disappointed with herself, "Ah damn…just when I finally figure out Alex's information network."

Alexander laughed, "You can always rely on me to get information from an unexpected source."

Izumi sighed as she knew that he was right, "That's true."

"Eh?" Tsubaki was shocked, "Leroy was the one who told the news!"

Izumi was surprised, "Eh?"

Tsubaki yelled more, "Not only that, he told the news that he's going to challenge the one who defeated Shadow who defeated many Pro League Duelists!"

Izumi gaped, "Leroy is going to challenge Yuki?"

Suddenly, Kurai's PDA beeped and both Tsubaki and Izumi immediately shut up. There was a long awkward silence as they were waiting for Kurai to take out his PDA and check his email.

Kurai replied bluntly, "Ah, Leroy challenged me."

Both Tsubaki and Izumi fell down. Tsubaki immediately got up, "We just said that few seconds ago!"

Izumi shouted, "Weren't you even listening to us?"

Kurai said it dully, "Nope."

Tsubaki and Izumi sulked but they knew that was going to happen anyway. Alexander just laughed softly in the background as he enjoyed their reactions greatly.

Izumi looked at Kurai with concerns, "Hey, Yuki, you're not really going to accept that challenge? I mean…this guy is a real Pro League Duelist…you know?"

Kurai shrugged, "So?"

Izumi gave a look of disapproval, "Yuki!"

Tsubaki grabbed her shoulder as an effort to chill her down, "Come on, Izumi, you know Yuki likes to face strong opponents and plus…you should never refuse a challenge!" He clenched his fist, "It's a…"

Izumi rolled her eyes and sighed annoyingly, "Yeah, I know…It's a duelist thing."

Tsubaki blinked in confusion, "Actually, I was going to say it's a manly thing."

Izumi blinked and looked at Tsubaki suspiciously, "A manly thing?"

Tsubaki clenched his fist tighter as he made a grunt face, "Yeah, a manly thing! A true man can't refuse any challenge at all!"

Izumi looked back with shadow over her eyes as she felt stupid for listening to him, "Huh, that thing…that's a whole new world that I don't want to know." She became serious, "But don't you think it's suspicious?"

Tsubaki was confused and asked, "What's so suspicious about Leroy challenging Yuki to a duel?"

Izumi confirmed, "That's the point! If Leroy wants to challenge Yuki, he could have done so already…but why does he bother telling the news about Yuki's match with Shadow and why bother telling the public that he's going to challenge Yuki?"

Tsubaki thought hard as he realized the logic in her sayings, "You have a point there…why does Leroy tell the public about his challenge to Yuki?"

Izumi quickly looked back at Alexander, "I…"

Tsubaki interrupted, "I bet you know the answer, huh?"

Alexander smiled, "Of course, Tsubaki."

Izumi frowned slightly and then repeatedly smacked on Tsubaki, "I was going to say that!"

Tsubaki winced as he braced Izumi's assault, "Ouch! Jeeze, why are you smacking me for asking Alex?"

Alexander chuckled, "Aww…I never knew Izumi cared so much about me."

Izumi sniffled, "I don't really have many male friends…and it's so much fun to notice my friend's tiny habits…"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "You don't have many friends when you're young, huh? I can imagine why though."

Suddenly, a bell ringed and Izumi delivered a knock out punch to Tsubaki's face cheek.

"Ouch!" Tsuabki rubbed his cheek, "What the hell was that for? And where does the bell come from?" He then heard a familiar laugh tinted with craziness. He paled, "That laughter…" He instantly looked toward the source of laughter just to see a familiar Ra Yellow Duelist standing there with his new toy, "Rad!"

Rad laughed, "Hey, Tsubaki, like my new toy?" He was holding a large bell with his left hand and a hammer in his right hand.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped as he questioned Rad's taste, "Um…that's nice…but what are you doing here?"

Rad grinned like crazy, "I came to escort Yuki! Lot of duelists is waiting at the Dueling center! They're excited to see Leroy's match with the notorious infamous Osiris Red!"

Izumi sweat-dropped as she chuckled nervously, "You're making it sound like he's some villain or something…" She then registered rest of the information that Rad just told, "Eh? Lot of duelists is waiting at the center already? When is the match?" They all glanced at Kurai.

Kurai groaned as he took out his PDA, ignoring the anticipated looks from the others. He glanced at it, "Ah…it's now."

Tsubaki and Izumi just turned white with great shock in complete silence. Tsubaki finally snapped, "Get over there already, you moron!"

Kurai's forehead vein twitched and Rad's bell rang. Kurai suddenly delivered a powerful uppercut to Tsubaki's chin, sending him flying until he was a bling in the sky.

Alexander smiled as he watched him flied, "At least he's heading toward the Duel Academy."

Rad exclaimed, "Wow! Tsubaki is certainly having fun!"

* * *

The others hurried to the Dueling Stage where, Rad was true to his words, the audience seats were packed with Duelists anxious to see Leroy's duel. Izumi and her friends were looking around for empty audience seats. Tsubaki complained while rubbing his poor chin with a cross bandage on it, "Man, Yuki doesn't have to hit so hard…"

Rad laughed, "He should become a boxer instead of a Duelist."

Tsubaki moaned, "Either way both of them hurts me!"

Izumi sighed, "This entire place is crowded…"

"That is expected. They are all here to see Leroy." Tsubaki glanced at the Dueling stage where Leroy was standing still with his arms crossed, "Wow…I can't believe I get to see him live!"

Izumi took a closer glance at Leroy, "He certainly looked strong, alright…"

Alexander just found empty seats next to two familiar girls. He smiled with closed eyes, "Why, it's Instructor Rebecca and Shizuka-san."

The young professor with blonde ponytails heard her name and glanced at the owner of the voice with annoyance expressed in her face, "Great…it's you, Alexander…"

Shizuka sweat-dropped as she could feel the coldness and disgust in Rebecca's tone. She carefully ignored her and glanced at Izumi, "We meet again, Izumi-san."

Izumi waved, "Nice meeting you again, Shizuka-san. I'm guessing you guys are here to see Yuki dueling against Leroy, huh?" She blinked as she remembered something, "Two handsome guys dueling each other?" She sweat-dropped, "Shouldn't that woman be here?"

Shizuka chuckled nervously, "She's over there." She pointed to the other side at a familiar blonde girl, Lisa, who was completely torn as she couldn't decide to support who. Vanessa, sitting next to her, just looked at Lisa with sweat drop falling off the back of her head as she felt sorry for Lisa and how strange Lisa can be.

Izumi, on the other hand, just looked at Lisa with a dull face as she expected her to act like that, "Ah." She then remembered something important, "Ah!" She glanced at Alexander, "I forgot to ask you why Leroy challenged Yuki in public newspaper."

Tsubaki's eyes widened out of realization, "Oh yeah…you were going to tell us that."

Alexander smiled knowingly. Rebecca looked at her two students, "You didn't know? I thought it was fairly obvious."

Shizuka blinked as she didn't know, "It was obvious?"

Rebecca looked at Shizuka in disbelief, "You didn't know too?"

Shizuka blushed out of embarrassment, "I only joined the Dueling world recently! I don't know much about Pro League and stuff like that."

Rebecca rolled her eyes in disbelief as she looked away, "Huh, I guess you're not so different from your brother."

Shizuka blushed more as she grabbed her cheeks in attempt to hide her blush, "Eh, you think I'm great as nii-san?"

Rebecca glanced at Shizuka with beads of sweat as she felt ashamed of Shizuka's naivety, "It wasn't a compliment."

Shizuka was surprised at Rebecca's comment, "Eh?"

Rebecca sighed, "Anyway…do you guys know about Chris Eagles?"

Tsubaki blinked as he didn't recognized the name, "Chris Eagles? I never heard of him."

Izumi pointed out, "But he had the same surname as Leroy Eagles? Are they related?"

Rebecca nodded, "Of course, they are and I'm not really surprised why you wouldn't hear of Chris Eagles. He wasn't that well known but he was actually one of the Pro League Duelists although his rank was average among others."

Izumi noticed the past tense, "Was? Did something happen to Chris's ranking?"

Rebecca crossed her arms as she continued, "Chris was one of the unfortunate duelists who was challenged by Shadow."

Tsubaki gulped slightly, "Shadow again, huh?...so…um…I'm guessing…"

Alexander finished, "Correct…..Chris lost to Shadow and that was his downfall. From then on, he lost his strength and continued to lose many games in the Pro League. Eventually, he became the lowest. Humiliated with all his losses, he took his own life."

Izumi gasped as Alex mentioned the last sentence, "That's horrible…"

Tsubaki frowned, "That sucks…but…how is Leroy related to Chris?"

Rebecca sighed annoyingly, "Do the math! You already know they are related by surnames. Chris Eagles is Leroy's father."

Tsubaki understood, "Ohhh…" He became surprised as he processed the last bit of information, "EHHHHH?"

"So, that's why Leroy challenged Yuki in the newspaper!" Izumi was shocked, "It was because Yuki defeated Shadow!"

Tsubaki waved his hands as he doesn't understand, "Woah, woah. Wait a minute…if Leroy wants to beat Shadow…I assumed for revenge…why does he have to challenge Yuki?"

Rad wrapped his arm around Tsubaki's head, "Silly, if you can't find the guy who beat your dad..."

Alexander smiled, "And what other better choice is there than to beat the only known Duelist who defeated Shadow?"

Tsubaki pushed aside Rad's hand and finally understood, "Oh…now I get it."

Shizuka frowned slightly as she felt upset, "But…that's wrong…to duel for the sake of revenge…I don't think that's right…"

Rebecca countered, "Lot of duelists have different reasons why they fight including bad reasons…you should know that better than me…you were there during the Battle City.."

Shizuka was silent because she knew there was truth in Rebecca's words. She nodded, "You're right."

Tsubaki gaped, "Ehh? You were in the famous Battle City, Shizuka?"

"That's really cool!" Rad complimented, "What ranking were you?"

Shizuka sweat-dropped as she laughed nervously, "I was in Battle City but not as a duelist, just as an observer."

* * *

Leroy was still standing on his spot on the top of the Dueling Stage with his arms crossed. He was still waiting for his opponent but he wasn't in a rush…actually he was in a rush as he was very anxious to prove that he can defeat an opponent who defeated Shadow. He wanted so badly to use the weapons of war in his upcoming match. He desired so badly to restore his father's reputation. He grumbled silently, "Where the hell is he?"

The audience immediately stopped chatting as they noticed an Osiris Red walking unto the room from the wide hallway. They all watched him with anticipation as Kurai walked up the stairs onto the Dueling Stage and immediately started talking to each other. All of their conversations involved names of both Duelists and Shadow himself. Lisa, the Obelisk Blue and crazy fan girl of hot guys screamed, "LORD LEROY! LORD YUKI!"

Vanessa sighed in bliss as she felt lucky that she brought her ear plugs unlike the people who were sitting close by Lisa and had their ear drums pierced by her screams.

Leroy smirked slightly as he stared at Kurai who was putting on his duel disk, "Kurai, right?"

Kurai gave the death glare to Leroy as he hated to be called by that name.

Leroy chuckled, "I see why others told me to call you by your surname. I'll respect that. Yuki…heh, I heard lot of things about you. They were all saying on how you were the Miracle Kid because you're an Osiris Red who manage to defeat the Professor, tied with Hyun-Ki of the Second Year, defeated one of the best Ra Yellow, and Shadow himself. Quite impressive, Yuki, that's why I want to challenge you as the Pro League Duelist. I want to witness your strength." Leroy moved his arm around him, indicating all the audience members, "I hope you enjoyed the crowd. I believe it's the best feeling when you're dueling in front of the full house."

Kurai just remained silent as he started shuffling his deck.

Leroy's smile turned upside down, "Can't you talk, Yuki?"

"…You said you challenged me as the Pro League Duelist…" Kurai smirked as he inserted the deck into the Duel Disk, "You sure about that?"

Leroy's eyes widened slightly when Kurai smirked at him. He felt threatened and insulted at the same time by Kurai's taunting tone, "What are you implying?" He demanded to know the answer.

Kurai shrugged, "I'm just saying if you lose to me here…your reputation might go down the drain."

Leroy suddenly glared, "Cocky dropout! You're just an Osiris Red! Don't let your recent victories get to your head!" He activated his duel disk, "Your duel with Shadow…your victory…it gotta be pure luck! I'll defeat you and teach you your proper place here."

Both Duelists yelled, "Duel!" They both snatched the top five cards from their Duel Disks.

Kurai: 4000 LP. Leroy: 4000 LP.

"I'll go first!" Leroy declared as he quickly drew the sixth card from the top of his deck, "I'll start by summoning Gold Star Battler – Sergeant Major!" [**M1 (3/1400/500)**] Instantly, one of the monsters slots glowed brightly and shattered as a soldier dressed in futuristic plate armors came out to the Field. It was a tall thin soldier dressed in black combat suit with golden chest armor made of three geometric-shaped plates, a chest plate and two shoulder plates. On that armor were adorned with medals attached to red ribbon, proving his significance. He also wore a golden belt consisting of survival combat knifes and pockets for tools of war and golden armored boots with jet systems on the bottom. He wore the same-colored combat helmet with thick-cross shaped visor.

Tsubaki stared in awe, "The Star Battlers, his famous deck theme. I only saw them in TV but they looked so cool live!"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "You really admire Pro League Duelists, huh?" She questioned, "But what's with the futuristic soldier?"

Rad answered, "I heard Leroy's hobby is weapons, so he collects lot of military toys."

Tsubaki finished, "Thus explained his theme. I mean Rad's theme is Elemental Heroes, Sidekicks, and Roids. My theme is Gem Dragons and yours is Magical Girls."

Izumi concluded, "And Yuki's theme is Elemental Mercenaries…hey…" She glanced at Rad, "Is there a connection between those and Elemental Heroes?"

Rad laughed, "Wouldn't be cool if there is? Maybe, I'll challenge Yuki one day and see which one is the best!"

"When my Gold Star Battler is successfully normal summoned, I can special summon a Lv. 4 or lower Star Battler monster from my hand!" Leroy slammed one card on his Duel Disk, "And that monster I chose is Red Star Battler – Power Soldier!" [**M2 (4/1700/1600)**] A soldier with an average body build arrived on the field. He was entirely dressed in red combat plate armors over his black suit. Every parts of the body were covered by red armor except the joints of the body. He even wore a red combat belt and red armored boots. His red combat helmet contained a shield-shaped visor. He wielded a black assault rifle. Leroy snatched two more cards from his hand, "Since I can't attack on the first turn, I'll place two cards face down!" Two face-down cards appeared behind his soldiers, "Your move, Osiris Red."

Tsubaki gaped, "Wow! Already, Leroy summoned two monsters on the first turn!"

Izumi looked at Tsubaki suspiciously, "I can't help but feel that you're supporting Leroy more than Yuki."

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Well…I admired Leroy…although…he does seem a little arrogant."

Alexander smiled, "Hmm, arrogance can lead to downfall."

Rebecca complained, "I hate to agree with him but he is right."

"Draw!" Kurai drew his card as he now began his turn. Right away, he played his famous card, "I play Polymerization! I fuse Tempest Lady [**M3 (3/1000/1000)**] and Flame Beserker [**M4 (3/1200/900)**] to fusion summon E-Merc Blazing Windman!" [**M5 (6/2100/1200)**] Suddenly, a tornado was formed on the field and right next to it, a pillar of fire erupted from the field. They quickly combined and became a blazing fiery tornado. The tornado cleared, revealing an orange-skinned warrior with black helmet and black wing. It also had blue-colored lizard tail and hawk-shaped left arm with white beak.

"Not so fast, Osiris Red!" Leroy interrupted as Kurai narrowed his amber eyes, "Your fusion monster is impressive but unfortunately, I have a counter for that." He declared, "I now activate my trap card, Brutal Landmine!" [**T1**] His trap card flipped up, revealing a picture of a soldier who just stepped on the landmine that was about to explode. There was a Star Battler in the background as he was the one who planted the mine, "This trap can only activates when I have Star Battler on the Field and I have two of them!"

Kurai narrowed his eyes into a serious glare, "What does it do?"

Leroy smirked, "Heh, when my opponent tribute summoned or fusion summoned, I get to destroy that monster!" Suddenly, Kurai's prided monster was consumed by a huge explosion that blew away everyone. The audience roared with excitement, "But don't worry about it, you get to have your fusion materials monsters back on the Field." The explosion and the dust waves cleared, revealing a winged woman with hawk-shaped helmet and tall fiery-skinned warrior, "Oh, I forgot to mention that Red Star Battler's effect activates!" The red armored soldier aimed his rifle at Kurai, "When your monster is destroyed, I get to take away 500 Life Points!" The soldier fired his rifle and the bullet hit Kurai in the chest, taking away his Life Points.

Kurai: 4000 – 500 = 3500. Leroy: 4000.

The audience cheered for Leroy's first attack to the enemy.

Kurai frowned as he grabbed the two cards from the graveyard slot and placed them on his duel disk, "I'll put both of them in attack mode." Both mercenaries stood up straight and had their weapons ready for battles.

Leroy's eyes widened slightly in surprise but he smirked, "You do know that both of my monsters have higher attack than your monsters."

Kurai grabbed the fourth card, "Obviously, I'll just have to play this card." The field slot of the duel disk opened as he inserted the card in it, "I play a field card, Battle Coliseum!" [**S1**] Suddenly, Rome coliseum surrounded the entire Dueling stage. The audiences were entranced with the magnificence of the old ancient structure where many battles had taken place, "When my E-Merc monsters battles monsters with higher attack power, my field card decrease those monsters' attack by 1000." He pointed to the Star Battlers, "E-Merc Tempest Lady! Attack Golden Star Battler!" The winged woman suddenly leaped into the air and kept herself afloat with her gray wings. She suddenly soared toward the solider dressed in golden armor.

Leroy quickly pressed a button on his Duel Disk, "I play my trap card, Star Battler Redeployment!" [**T2**] His second trap card revealed a picture of the retreating Star Battlers but at the same time, another squad charged in, "This card negated your attack and end your Battle Phase."

Kurai scowled as the winged woman quickly flapped her wings to stop soaring. The hawk woman jumped back to her position on the Field.

Leroy smirked, "And that's not all. It also allows me to switch my Star Battler with another Star Battler that is the same level!" Right on the cue, his Golden Star Battle glowed brightly as it turned into a ball of light that entered Leroy's deck. The deck ejected one card, allowing Leroy to grab it, "Since my Gold Star Battler is Lv. 3, I can special summon Bronze Star Battler – Rogue Detector!" [**M6 (3/1000/1300)**] Another futuristic solider arrived on the Field. It was another man with average body build but this time, dressed in bronze plate armors over white jumpsuit. His armors only covered his chest, bottom arms, and his legs. He wore a bronze combat helmet with rectangular-shaped visor stretched horizontally to both of his ears. His weapon of choice was a survival dagger.

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "And what's his effect supposed to be?"

Leroy chuckled, "Heh, you'll see. Continue with your turn, Osiris Red."

Kurai glared slightly as he picked up the fifth card, "I place one card face down and then I end my turn."

Leroy smirked slightly, "That's all you can do, Osiris Red? I'm starting to really believe that you only defeat Shadow by pure luck!"

Izumi glared, "That guy is starting to piss me off! What does he got against Osiris Red?"

Sweat beads fell down Tsubaki as he tried to calm Izumi down, "Well, he's an Obelisk Blue and lot of them do considered as drop-outs."

Izumi countered, "Not Alex! He doesn't consider us as drop-outs! Right, Alex?"

Alexander smiled, "Of course not, I considered all of you as my playthings."

Izumi and Tsubaki just stared at him with disbelief. Izumi sulked, "Somehow I felt like that's worse than dropouts."

"Draw!" Leroy drew the next card, "Now, I should show you the awesome power of my deck." He revealed a magic card that had a picture of an expensive looking helmet with camera and flashlight above it from his hand, "I play an equipment card, Star Trap Sonar [**S2**] and equip it to my Bronze Star Battler!" The bronze-armored soldier's helmet was replaced by the same helmet shown in the picture of the Magic card, "This advanced equipment increase my monster's attack by 400!" [**Bronze Star Battler – Rogue Detector: 1000 + 400 = 1400**] "It also allows me to choose one set card and reveal it. If it is a trap card, I can destroy it and it if is a magic card, unfortunately, I'll have to return it face down. But it's not really necessary because I know it's Negate Attack card."

Kurai's eyes widened slightly in shock. He gritted his teeth, "How do you know that?"

Leroy chuckled as he explained, "My Bronze Star Battler – Rogue Detector's effects allow me to look at all your set cards."

Kurai groaned out of great annoyance at the situation he was in.

Leroy pointed to Kurai's set card, "Now, Star Trap Sonar!" Kurai's face-down card revealed the exact card that Leroy just said, Negate Attack, "Now due to my equipment card, I can destroy it! Bronze Star Battler!" The detector suddenly vanished and he reappeared in front of the trap card. He used his dagger and sliced it in half horizontally, causing the trap card to shatter. He quickly vanished and appeared back in his starting spot. At the same time, Leroy played the recent card he drew, "Then I'll play Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two more cards." He drew two more cards, "Next, I'll summon another Star Battler! Green Star Battler – Stealth Assassin! [**M7 (2/300/100)**] Another man suddenly jumped into the field with very thin and slender build suited for speed. He was dressed in tight black suit with green armored chest plate over it. He also wore armored greaves and gauntlets. His green helmet contained an upside down triangular visor.

Leroy smirked, "Allow me to tell his effect. My Green Star Battler can't be destroyed by battle and if this card successfully attacks directly, you have to randomly discard one card."

Kurai scoffed, "So it's similar to Spirit Reaper."

Leroy chuckled, "Precisely, I also play this equipment card, Star Sniper Rifle!" [**S3**] His magic card had a picture of a long chrome-plated rifle with advanced scope with red laser, "I equip this card to Red Star Battler – Power Solider!" His magic card vanished into a beam of light that struck the Red Star Battler's black assault rifle, replacing it with the new sniper rifle, "Like any Star weapon, it increases my Star Battler's attack by 400!" [**Red Star Battler – Power Soldier: 1700 + 400 = 2100**]

Leroy continued to explain the effect, "Plus, when I activate Star Sniper Rifle, it came with one bullet counter."

Izumi blinked since she never heard of it, "Bullet counter? What is that supposed to do?"

Tsubaki explained, "It's just a Duel Monster name for bullets. Some of Leroy's Star Weapons contained a number of bullet counters used for powerful effects."

Leroy smirked, "I can use one bullet counter to destroy one monster on the Field! Red Star Battler, snipe Flame Beserker!" Readily obeyed his master's order, the red-plated soldier quickly aimed his rifle at the flame orange-skinned warrior. He glanced through the scope to make sure he gets the perfect aim. He pulled the trigger and fired the only bullet inside. The deadly ball of steel suddenly pierced through the Flame Beserker's helmet and out of the poor monster's head. It was a gruesome sight but soon, his monster shattered away into fragments. Leroy declared, "And now my Red Star Battler's effect activates again!" The red armored soldier's sniper rifle dissolved into digital squares as it was transporting away. His sniper rifle was replaced by his original assault rifle. He aimed toward Kurai and fired multiple shots. Kurai braced the hail of bullets but he couldn't help but watch his Life Points got lowered.

Kurai: 3500 – 500 = 3000. Leroy: 4000.

Kurai pointed out, "You wasted your only bullet of your so-called special Star card."

Leroy chuckled smugly as he waved his finger, "Uh uh, normally a sniper rifle only has one bullet and then you have to reload. It's common knowledge."

Kurai replied boredly, "I don't deal with guns."

Leroy narrowed his eyes, "I don't think so but I'll have you know that it is common knowledge that I have magic cards that will reload my bullets. So don't be so anxious to get another monster destroyed." He stretched his arm toward Kurai as he smirked evilly, "Now, I'll begin my battle phase! Red Star Battler! Shoot that bird!" The red armored soldier fired multiple bullets at the poor winged woman. Bullets drilled through her wings and a second later, she shattered like broken glasses. Kurai covered his face as broken fragments of his monster rained on him.

Kurai: 3000 – 1100 = 1900. Leroy: 4000.

Leroy laughed, "And don't forget! My Red Star Battler's effect activates!" The red soldier fired again, this time at Kurai. Bullets once again pierced through Kurai even though they were only holograms.

Kurai: 1900 – 500 = 1400. Leroy: 4000.

"Fortunately for you, thanks to my Star Trap Sonar, my Bronze Star Battler can't attack. A price well worth for destroying a trap card, don't you think?" Leroy asked.

Kurai just gave Leroy the usual death glare.

Leroy smirked as he enjoyed Kurai's threatening expression, "Since your field is empty, my Green Star Battler can attack you directly!" The green armored soldier took out a small handgun and fired one bullet directly at Kurai's heart, "And since it's similar to Spirit Reaper….I believed you know what to do next."

Kurai: 1400 – 300 = 1100. Leroy: 4000.

Kurai gritted his teeth as he had to discard the only card of his Hand, no thanks to the Green Star Battler's effect. His field was entirely empty except the Battle Coliseum but there were no monsters on his side. His hand was also empty.

"Wow!" Tsubaki exclaimed, "In only two turns, Leroy took away nearly 3000 Life Points and wipe out his entire field and hand! Incredible!"

Izumi smacked him, "Whose side are you on?" She roared, "We are the proud Osiris Red! We have to support Yuki all the way!"

Tsubaki pointed out, "Even though Yuki treated us like crap most of the time?"

Beads of sweat fell down Izumi's head as she knew that Tsubaki was right. She denied Tsubaki's statement, "We will support him!"

Alexander laughed, "But Yuki is in trouble. He would need a tide-turning card or he doesn't stand a chance against Leroy in the next turn."

Rebecca sighed out of disappointment, "I thought that stupid punk could have done better…"

Leroy chuckled arrogantly, "I end my turn. Better get a good card but I doubt it since your deck is still large at this turn."

Kurai narrowed his eyes as he just drew the card without hesitating at all. He refused to show fear to his opponent at all. He glanced at the card and it was his turn to smirk, "Lady Luck is smiling on me now." He played the card right away, "I play Swords of Revealing Light!" An old classic magic card activated as white swords of holy light shows up all of the sudden, trapping Leroy's monsters in a cage of swords.

Izumi cheered, "Amazing, Yuki! I knew Yuki can do it!"

Rad blinked in slight confusion as he pointed out, "Um…aren't you the one who told him not to duel Leroy because he's Pro League Duelist?"

Tsubaki whispered to him, "She's a girl…you know how girls are…they change their minds all the time."

Izumi's blood vessel twitched in her forehead. She glared at Rad, "RAD!"

Rad took out a familiar bell with extreme happiness, "Yes!"

Izumi rubbed her clenched fists as she made loud cracking sounds. Angry aura was firing from her body. Tsubaki was already panicking with sweat drops running all over his body, "It was a joke! A joke!"

"WELL, IT AIN'T!" Izumi aimed. Rad rang the bell, "FUNNY!" She delivered a powerful knockout punch to poor Tsubaki's face.

Rebecca's glasses glinted as she gave a thumb's up, "Good job."

Shizuka sweat-dropped, "Rebecca-san! That was mean!"

Leroy's eyes widened in shock because Kurai drew the card he needed. He grinded his teeth out of frustration, "So what? You're only delaying your loss for three more turns."

Kurai shrugged, "Three turns could turn the tide."

Leroy yelled, "I won't allow that! Draw!" He drew the next card. He quickly slammed that card down on his Duel Disk, "I summon you, Blue Star Battler – Valor Chief!" [**M8 (4/1800/1000)**] The fourth soldier arrived on the field, this time he had a thick muscular build, making him bigger and taller than the other soldiers on the Field. He doesn't wear any combat suit as his dark blue armor plates covered every part of his body. His gauntlets and greaves were taller as they covered beyond the elbows and knees. His blue helmet contained a circular-shaped visor, "When this Star Battler destroys a monster through battle, his ATK increase by 100!"

Kurai crossed his arms, "You can summon more monsters but you can't break through the swords of light unless you have a magic destroying card."

Leroy smirked, "Like the ever classic Mystical Space Typhoon, huh?" He held the only card in his hand.

Kurai's eyes widened slightly as he felt a sense of dread threatening his body. He questioned coldly, "Is it..?"

Leroy laughed as he held the card down, "Sadly, it's not…but it's worth to see that expression on your face."

Kurai snarled, "Cocky bastard. Hurry up and end your turn."

Leroy just laughed more as he derived from the pleasure of leaving his opponent defenseless till the last minute, "I end my turn." Few swords disappeared from the cage, "Now only two turns left before my victory."

Kurai gave Leroy the cold stare, showing his determination to preserve, "We'll see about that, draw!" He drew the top card and played it immediately, "I play Graceful Charity!" A magic card showed up on the field with the classical picture of an angel holding a floating card in her hands, "I draw three cards but then I have to discard two." He drew the next three cards of his deck and glanced at them, "This is…" He frowned slightly and muttered, "not going to help me win." He pondered which card he should keep, _'If I keep a monster card and summon it, there's no doubt that he'll destroy it with that bullet counter.'_

Leroy chuckled arrogantly as he felt that he knew what Kurai was thinking, "Trying to get a stronger monster, huh? The only way to do that is set up sacrifices or fusion." His smirk grew a little wider, "Just to let you know…my Star Weapons are not restrained by your Swords of Revealing Light. Set down a trap and I'll destroy it. Set down a monster and I'll destroy it. Either way…your field is a minefield. Any card you set will blow up in your face!" He laughed.

Kurai narrowed his eyes out of irritation. He quickly selected the card he wanted and discarded the rest. He smirked, "You're right…I'm planning to summon a stronger monster…a monster that will defeat you in one turn!" He glanced at the only Polymerization card in his hand, _'Already…I lost two Polymerization cards to the graveyard…the first fusion failed…and the second Polymerization card was discarded by that stupid Spirit Reaper copy. I can't afford to lose the final one!'_

Leroy constricted his eyes out as his cockiness slowly turned into anger, "A monster that can defeat me in one turn? Don't be so stupid, Osiris Red…but then again…" He taunted, "You are an Osiris Red…I'll have to understand that you're stupid to begin with."

Kurai looked away, "Hurry up and draw."

Leroy closed his eyes and casually grabbed the top card of his deck as he doesn't really need anymore cards to win this duel. He commented, "You know…I'm starting to really believe that your victory against Shadow…" He opened his eyes, filled with wrath and coldness, "is really a fluke. How can a Duelist like you…" He pointed to Kurai, "win against Shadow that many Pro League Duelists including my father couldn't win against…I'm really thinking that you really don't have any skill at all…You're just extremely lucky." He looked at the solo card in Kurai's hand, "You probably put all that hopes into that card in attempt to summon your so-called stronger monster. I'll crush that hopes." Leroy jammed the card into the M/T slot of his Duel Disk, "I play another Star weapon card! Star Automatic Pistol!" [**S4**] His new weapon card contained the picture of a chrome-plated pistol with black upholstered hilt and socket, "I attach this card to Green Star Battler!" As he made his choice, the Green Star Battler's handgun was instantly replaced by his new weapon.

Kurai asked mockingly, "So you're increasing the Spirit Reaper's attack? What good does it do if your attacks are sealed by the swords?"

Leroy chuckled amusingly, "That's not all." He smirked evilly, "With 400 ATK power increase, this card come with six bullet counters! I can shoot as many as I want for 100 damage each counter only when this monster conducts battle." [**Green Star Battler – Stealth Assassin: 300 + 400 = 700**]

Kurai chided, "It seemed to me you're the one whose stupid. Your attacks are still sealed by the swords."

Leroy chucked even more, "That's not all it can do. The bullet counters counted as direct damages and it cannot be blocked by wall of monsters, barrier of magic, and minefield of trap."

Kurai's eyes widened slightly in shock, "That means…"

Leroy laughed, "Correct! My Green Star Battler can attack directly now! And combined with his own effect, you'll have to discard more cards!" He ordered his monster, "Green Star Battler! Shoot through the Swords of the Revealing Light with triple strikes!" The green armored soldier aimed his pistol at Kurai and instantly fired three bullets. The three bullets then bounced off the swords of light. They reflected off more swords of light until they were out of the opponent's field and struck Kurai's chest three times, "Since I shot three times, that'll be 300 damages but don't worry you only need to discard one card since that was only one attack."

Kurai glared, _'Bastard…I only have one card.'_ He had no choice but to discard his final Polymerization card to the graveyard, _'Where's Magician of Faith when I need one?...Ah crap…I don't own one..'_

Kurai: 1100 – 300 = 800. Leroy: 4000.

Leroy smiled with a smug expression, "I end my turn…now…what can you do this turn?"

Kurai growled as he knew he was in trouble. If he summoned monsters, it would just be sniped by rifle. If he put down traps, it would just be sensed by sonar. If he tried to keep cards, it would just be shot by pistol. But no matter how worse the situation can be, he had to draw the card, to continue on with the Duel. With that firm belief in his mind, he slowly put his fingers above the top card of his Deck.

Rebecca's eyes increased slightly as she was surprised. She was staring at Kurai and suddenly, an image of her precious Darling replaced him for a split second in the exact same position. She questioned herself, _'…Darling?...Why am I imagining him now?...Is….he attempting to do Destiny Draw? Is that even possible for him to do?'_

Kurai drew the top card as a swordsman who drew his katana. He then opened his eyes as he glanced at it. He smirked, "Turn end."

Rebecca's widened eyes wavered, _'That smirk…that confidence in his eyes…did he drew the card he need?...but he didn't do anything at all…'_

Leroy also noticed the confident look in his opponent's eyes, "What's with that eyes…? Do you drew something useful?"

Kurai smirked, "Probably."

Leroy narrowed his eyes as he felt offended by Kurai's haughty tone, "Have you forgotten? My Green Star Battler will make you discard that card!" He quickly drew the next card and then pointed toward Kurai, "Green Star Battler! Shoot him with triple shots!" The green armored soldier fired his last three bullets toward the swords of light. All three bullets ricocheted off the swords until they were finally headed toward Kurai, "You'll have to discard that card!"

"I don't think so." Kurai countered as suddenly, a black barrier formed around him and deflected the bullets. The audiences were surprised and pondered what happened since Kurai's field was entirely empty. Kurai's Duel Disk instantly ejected a card out of the graveyard slot and Kurai grabbed it in midair. He revealed a familiar card with a picture of a furry ball and devil wings, "By removing Yami Kuriboh from the graveyard, I can reduce battle damage or effect damage to zero till the end of the turn. Of course, naturally, I chose battle damage to be zero. It also means that your precious Star Battler's effect doesn't work and I don't need to discard anything."

Leroy realized it, "I see….Yami Kuriboh was the one thrown to the graveyard either by Graceful Charity or my Star Battler's effect….logically, you could have use that trash's effect to protect you when the Swords are finally gone…..but instead you use it to protect that solo card….could it be a revival card to special summon a powerful monster from the graveyard?"

Kurai shrugged, "Not really….but it's a key card to summoning a powerful monster."

Leroy narrowed his eyes, "I see…but whatever monster you summoned…it doesn't matter…because I'll destroy it!" He pointed his hand toward the green armored solider, "I going to sacrifice him to summon White Star Battler – Shield Captain!" [**M9 (6/2000/2300)**] Another soldier with average body build arrived on the Field, dressed entirely in white plate armors over blue jumpsuit. On the back of his white chest armor was a large rectangular-shaped metallic box with a star on it. In the middle of the white chest armor was a blue orb and his helmet contained a cross-shaped visor, "I set him in defense mode," The white armored soldier crouched as his blue orb activated and formed a spherical force field around him, "I now activate his effect, reload bullets counters!"

Kurai narrowed his eyes.

The white armored soldier's box opened and seven beams of light launched from the box. The beams of light entered the Star Battlers' weapons and reload their counters. Leroy smirked as he played the last card in his hand, "Then I play another Star Equipment card! Star Machine Gun!" [**S5**] Another weapon card revealed itself on the field with a indigo-colored futuristic looking machine-gun. The card disappeared as the machine-gun appeared in the hands of Blue Star Battler, "I equip this card to Blue Star Battler! If he destroy one monster as the result of battle, he can destroy another!" He smirked proudly as his field was filled with monsters and equipment cards, "Now..." He crossed his arms, "Turn end and the Swords of Revealing Light is gone now." Right on cue, the swords finally vanished and his monsters were free from the light, "This is now your last turn."

Kurai smirked, "You're right about that…" He closed his eyes with confidence, "It's definitely my last turn, alright…By the way, that duel with Shadow?"

"What about it?" Leroy asked.

Kurai chuckled, "You're probably right about that…" He instantly opened his amber eyes, "It's just extreme luck."

Leroy's eyes widened in utter shock, "What?"

Kurai answered calmly, "At that time, Shadow ran an elf deck and had many support cards that revolve around elves. I managed to win because I have one elf card in my deck."

Leroy's eyes widened even more as he couldn't believe his ears, "You mean…you won just because of that? Just because you're lucky?"

Kurai smirked, "Luck is part of skill."

Leroy glared, "That's just an excuse!" He snarled, "Beside…what's with the confession all of the sudden?"

Kurai continued smirking, "I'm trying to tell you…just as I manage to beat Shadow with one card…I will manage to beat you one card…" His amber eyes flashed brightly, "Because my deck never failed me." He drew the top card and immediately played it right away as he knew what he drew, "I summon E-Merc Steel Cutter!" [**M10 (4/1900/1100)**] A black armored warrior with dark gray skin jumped to the Field with his large black axe with white blade.

"Then I play my trump card, Advanced Fusion Evolution!" [**S6**] A magic card materialized on the Field behind Steel Cutter, showing a similar picture of Polymerization card with the orange dragon and demon swirling around in a vortex. However it looked different because the dragon and the demon were cracked all over the places with light glowing from the lines. The colors of the vortex were in darker shades yet bright with metallic glow, "By removing three Polymerizations from my graveyard," His duel disk ejected three copies of the same card, "I can pick any fusion card from my deck such as Dragon Mirror or Overload Fusion…" He took out his deck and quickly selected one card, "The card I chose is Magnetic Fusion!" [**S7**]

Tsubaki gasped, "Yuki is attempting another fusion with Steel Cutter?"

Izumi grinned, "Yuki! Show him the power of Osiris Red!"

Kurai played the final card, "I now activate Magnetic Fusion!" His card quickly showed up with the picture of Polymerization except the orange-colored creatures were metallic with silver glitters. The colors of swirling vortex were also metallic with glitters of gold, "This card can only work when there's E-Merc Steel Cutter on the Field! It's a specific fusion card that work for the ever-controversial element of metal."

Leroy growled as he felt irritated at the confidence in Kurai's eyes, "What make you think you're going to win with that card? You were so frigging confident about this so-called special monster…but it's only a Lv. 4 monster with a fusion card…I should remind you that you don't have any other monster on the Field and in your hand! How can you fuse your trash?"

Kurai explained, "My Magnetic Fusion fuse Steel Cutter with another monster on the Field or the hand to fusion summon a monster that will stay on the Field as long as it can. However…my Steel Cutter can fuse with any E-Merc monster from my deck…but the fusion monster can only stay on the Field till the end of my phase…but…." His eyes glinted as he grabbed another card from his deck and played it right away, "That's all it need! E-Merc Steel Cutter! Fuse with E-Merc Bolt Assassin!" Black clouds gathered above the coliseum and loud thunders boomed across the stadium, startling the audience. Suddenly, a powerful thunder bolt struck Kurai's mercenary of metal with a bright flash that nearly blinded the entire audience.

The flash finally cleared and revealed a monstrous sight, a creature that doesn't even look fully human. It was a human-shaped being with its bottom half morphed into legless floating apparition being made out of a pure white lighting. Suddenly, magnets rose from the ground and swirled around the lightning ghost in crazy speed. The magnets then merged with the ghost, forming a huge thick cobalt-blue armor with three giant lightning-shaped rods on its back. Its arms were instantly replaced by cobalt-blue greaves that were entirely spherical oval with no sharp edges and flat surfaces. On its right greave had a golden printed letter of "N" and on its left greave had a golden printed letter of "S." The magnets also formed a dome-shaped helmet with shield-shaped visor with two white lightning bolts on the sides. On the top of the helmet was another white lightning bolt beautiful sculpted out of metal, "E-Merc Magnetic Zealot!" [**M11 (7/2600/1000)**]

The audience gasped and held their breaths with anticipations, wondering what kind of effect does Kurai's new monster had.

Leroy's eyes widened in shock as he felt overwhelmed by the electrifying presence of the monster. He regained his composure and pointed out, "So what? Your monster's attack is only 2600. That's not going to kill me in one hit and don't even think of destroying my Red Star Battler and his Star Sniper Rifle because my White Star Battler's effect will prevent that."

Kurai pretended to be interested, "Oh? Do explain."

Leroy scowled at Kurai's sarcasm, "No other Star Battlers can be targeted when my White Star Battler is on the field! So even if you destroy my White Star Batter, I'll destroy your so-called special monster with the sniper rifle and finish you off."

Kurai laughed softly, "Not unless I use my monster's effect."

Leroy questioned, "Its effect?"

It was Kurai's turn to smirk evilly, "Correct," Kurai pointed to his monster, "My E-Merc Magnetic Zealot takes all Equipment Cards on the Field and equipped it to himself." He smirked more, "Regardless of the requirements."

Leroy's eyes widened in shock, "What?"

The electric ghost aimed his special oval-shaped greaves toward the Star Battlers. The letters "N" and "S" began to glow brightly as the lightning rods on the back of his armor was gathering electricity. Suddenly, the weapons flew off the Star Battlers' hands and were sucked toward the ghost. Luckily for the mercenary, the weapons did not collide with him but floated around him in circles. Kurai counted, "There's three Star weapons, so that's three times 400 ATK increase which means…my monster gets 1200 ATK power. [**E-Merc Magnetic Zealot: 2600 + 1200 = 3800**] Also, I can use their bullet counters!" Kurai declared his moves, "Magnetic Zealot! Use Star Sniper Rifle to snipe White Star Battler!"

The electric ghost levitated the rifle from its circular path and aimed it toward the white-armored soldier. The rifle fired and the bullet pierced through the soldier's defensive orb, causing the orb to shatter like glass along with the remains of the monster. Kurai shouted, "Your shield is down! Now, I'll begin battle! Magnetic Zealot, destroy Blue Star Battler with Star Machine Gun!" The machine gun stopped moving and aimed at the blue armored solider. It fired chains of bullets that pierced through the poor bulky soldier. The bullets also fired through poor Leroy, taking away half of his Life Points.

Kurai: 800. Leroy: 4000 – 2000 = 2000.

Leroy's eyes widened in realization. He knew what was going to happen next. His machine gun card will allowed Kurai's monster to attack again. He made a fatal mistake, relying on the Equipment cards.

Kurai yelled, "Now, finish him off by killing Red Star Battler!" The ghost fired the machine gun again but this time at the different target. The Red Star Battler fell to the ground after the first shot and then it was bouncing across the Field as bullets created hundred of holes in its body.

Leroy screamed as more bullets struck away the last part of his life away. He gasped as he collapsed to the floor, panting in disbelief that he lost this duel.

Kurai: 800. Leroy: 2000 – 2100 = 0.

Kurai shrugged, "You shouldn't have challenged me as a Pro League Duelist."

Izumi cheered as she raised her arm toward the sky, "YUKI WON!"

Tsubaki clenched his fist, "ALRIGHT, YUKI!"

Rad laughed, "One minute you were supporting Leroy but now you're cheering for Yuki."

Tsubaki grabbed Rad and gave him a noogie, "Ah, shut up!"

Shizuka smiled at Rebecca, "That was a good duel, don't you think?"

Rebecca nodded, "Yeah…you could say that…" She glanced at Kurai, _'That guy…he did a destiny draw…not many duelists can do that…'_

Alexander smiled, "Yuki…you really succeeded my expectations." He noticed another Obelisk Blue student, Ethan, staring at him, _'Oh…Heh…I have a strange feeling that I might duel with him soon.'_

* * *

Sho ordered, "Fortune Tempest!" The winged hero riding on top of the UFO aimed his cannon and fired a huge blue destructive beam that drilled through the Dark Guardian's chest and struck the twin duelists, draining their Life Points to zero.

Hayato cheered, "They did it!"

Misawa smiled with great relief, "Thank goodness. Now, these two can remain at the academy."

Asuka turned her eyes to Misawa, "Even though, he'll turn into a tough rival, you're still happy?"

Misawa countered, "What about you?"

Asuka looked away, feeling embarrassed as she tried to hide her extreme joy for the Osiris Red duelists, "I would just feel guilty if they got expelled because of me." She glanced down at the arena, "But I'm glad now."

Manjoume gritted his teeth as he was furious with their victory. He got up from his seat and walked away.

His lackey got up with concern, "Manjoume-san!"

Chronos couldn't believe his eyes, "This can't be!" He walked back as he still didn't believe it until he fell on his bottom, "For legendary duelists to lose…"

Daitokuji walked up to Chronos and kneeled by him, "Well, my students are quite impressive, aren't they? They were amazing-nya." Pharaoh in Daitokuji's arms leaned forward and licked Chronos's cheek.

Chronos yelled, "Gah! A cat! It's a cat! On cats, I'm not too keen, no! Cappucinno!"

Judai clenched his left fist with unsuppressed excitement and thanked Sho, "Well, we did it, Sho! All thanks you!"

Sho looked down, "Aniki…I…I…." He rubbed his eyes as he was touched by Judai's words.

Judai glanced back at the teachers and the Principal, "We won. Fair enough, agreed?

Samejima replied, "You have shown us a fine duel. Naturally, your expulsions will be dropped."

Judai raised his right arm as he cheered loudly, "Alright!" Sho smiled along with him. Judai then realized, "Oh, almost forgot." He did his signature pose, "Gotcha! That sure was a fun duel!" He winked, "Let's do it again, huh?"

"Hmm…if you have that much energy left, allow me to give you some homework." Samejima smiled as Judai got shocked. The Principal's smile grew more, "Your expulsions have been dropped this time, but your penalty for entering a restricted area will be different."

Chronos, who was still shaking out of shock, was clenching to Samejima from behind, "Right, right, right…different, different…"

Samejima continued, "You will turn in a thirty-page report on dueling strategies."

Both Sho and Judai whined. Judai complained more, "Can you do that?"

Samejima just smiled, "Keep a stiff upper lip!" He glanced at the Osiris Red Professor, "I'll leave you to oversee things, Daitokuji-kun." He walked away.

Daitokuji agreed, "Yes, sir. Leave it to me-nya!" Pharaoh meowed as Chronos chased after Samejima.

Judai grabbed the sides of his head and moaned, "No way! A thirty-page report is torture!"

Sho felt sorry for his sake but then he remembered a person watching their duel. He looked away from Judai and saw his older brother still standing behind the railing, _'Onii-san…I feel I've made a little progress forward…' _He looked at his Power Bond card, _'Just you wait.' _He looked up to his brother, _'I'm positive I'll catch up to you!'_

Ryo just stared back as he recognized the fighting spirit in Sho's eyes, _'I'm sure we'll do battle one of these days.'_ He walked away.

Judai got up from his sulking position, immediately grabbed Sho's attention, "Okay, let's get back to the dorm. We're pulling an all-nighter."

"All-nighter?" Sho looked at Judai shockingly.

Judai shrugged, "But c'mon! Why's this always…" He sighed disappointedly and walked away with Sho following, "This after we won a duel…what a joke…This is…what's it called? You know, uh…Oh yeah! So unreasonable, you know!"

Hayato ran down the stairs and met up with them. Even though Judai and Sho have to write a long report, they still smiled and laughed as they were happy that they get to stay in Duel Academy with their friends.

**TBC**

**

* * *

Izumi: **I knew Yuki would win!

**Tsubaki: **Hey, Izumi, we got Promotion Exam next week!

**Izumi: **I admit I was really worried about him but I knew he'll prevail!

**Tsubaki: **Hey, Izumi! Do you hear me?

**Izumi: **Ah! I heard Alex is going to duel next! I wonder what kinda deck he use.

**Tsubaki: **She's…not listening to me…Oh well, it's her loss.

**Izumi: **EH! Alex is going to duel against the Valkyries! The notorious deck theme of Von Schroeder? Alex, don't lose!

**Next Episode: Episode 10 – The Duel of the Knights**

**Tsubaki: **She's not going to remember the Promotion Exam, is she?

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Duel – White Star Battler – Shield Captain**

**Alexander: **Star Battler, huh? This archetype must be based on the insanely popular shooting game. And this one is Captain who can reload bullets into all Star Battler equipments and also protect his subordinates from harm. Quite a useful card.

**Izumi: **White Start Battler, Green Star Battler, Red Star Battler…what are they? Super Sentai? **::she scoffed:: **Isn't that kinda childish?

**Alexander smirked: **Oh? And you don't have any problems with liking magical girls?

**Izumi blushed: **That's a totally different show!

**Alexander: **Alright, I understand…but I'm so ashamed that you would insult our heroes.

**Izumi: **Huh? You act like they're real.

**Alexander: **That's because…they are real…we just don't see them because they're not here on Earth but in Space Frontier, stopping a current alien invasion.

**Izumi: **Huh? Huh! HUH? Space Frontier? Aliens?

**Alexander sighed: **And since you insulted our honorable protectors of Earth…they just might as well as let an alien suck the life out of your cold heartless body.

**Izumi cringed: **Wait! I didn't mean it! I'm sorry, Star Battlers! I didn't mean to insult you!

**Alexander: **Too late…in fact, you might be not Izumi…you might be an alien possessing her body.

**Izumi gasped: **You're right! **::she grabbed herself:: **I could not be me! **::she screamed as she ran off::**

**Alexander smirked: **This just never gets boring.

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Gold Star Battler – Sergeant Major: Light/Warrior/3/1400/500**: When this monster is Normal Summoned successfully, you can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster that includes [Star Battler] in its card name from your hand.

**M2 - ****Red Star Battler: Fire/Warrior/4/1700/1600**: When this card is face-up your side of the Field, when a monster(s) on your opponent's side of the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, inflict 500 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points.

**M3 - ****E-Merc**** Tempest Lady: /3/1000/1000**

**M4 - ****E-Merc**** Flame Beserker: Fire/Warrior/3/1200/900**

**M5 - ****E-Merc**** Blazing Windman: Wind/Warrior – Fusion/6/2100/1200: [E-Merc Flame Beserker] + [E-Merc Tempest Lady]**: This card can only be special summoned by fusion summon. When this card destroys and sends a Monster to the graveyard in battle, do damage equal to the defense strength of the monster destroyed to your opponent.

**M6 - ****Bronze Star Battler – Rogue Detector: Earth/Warrior/3/1000/1300**: When this card is face-up on your side of the Field, you can look at your opponent's face down magic/trap cards.

**M7 - ****Green Star Battler – Stealth Assassin: Wind/Warrior/2/300/100**: This card cannot be destroyed by battle. If this card successfully attacks directly, your opponent randomly discards 1 card.

**M8 - ****Blue Star Battler – Valor Chief: Water/Warrior/4/1800/1000**: For each monster this card destroyed as the result of battle, increase this card's ATK by 100

**M9 - ****White Star Battler – Shield Captain: Light/Warrior/6/2000/2300**: You can restart the number of bullet counters on all Equipment cards. If you use this effect, this monster cannot battle this turn. While this monster remains face-up on the field, your opponent cannot select another monster on your side of the field as an attack target.

**M10 - ****E-Merc Steel Cutter: Earth/Warrior/4/1900/1100**: You can only activate this effect during a Battle Step of your turn. Decrease the ATK of this card by 500 points, then during battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. This effect continues until the End Phase of the turn this effect is activated.

**M11 - ****E-Merc Magnetic Zealot: Light/Warrior – Fusion/7/2600/1000**: [E-Merc Steel Cutter] + [E-Merc Bolt Assassin]: All equipment magic cards are now equipped to this monster regardless of its requirements. If it is a monster card, sent that card to the Graveyard. At the end of your turn, return the equipment magic cards back to the original monsters.

**T1 - ****Brutal Landmine – Trap**: You can only activate this card when there's a monster(s) that includes (Star Battler) in its card name on your side of the Field. Activate only when your opponent tribute summons or fusion summons a monster. Destroy that card and your opponent special summons monsters that were used as tributes or fusion materials.

**T2 - ****Star Battler Redeployment – Trap**: Activate when your opponent attacks with a monster that includes [Star Battler] in its name. Negate that attack and end your opponent's Battle Phase. Shuffle the monster that was attacked back in into your deck and special summon another monster that includes [Star Battler] in its card name with the same level as the selected monster.

**S1 - ****Battle Coliseum - Field Spell**: When a monster with [E-Merc] in its name, battles a monster with Higher Attack, decrease the opponent's monster attack by 1000.

**S2 - ****Star Trap Sanor – Equipment Spell**: This card can only be equipped to a monster that includes [Star Battler] in its card name. Increase this monster's ATK by 400. You can look at one of your opponent's set cards and flip it up. If it is a trap card, destroy that card. If it is a magic card, set that card face-down. You can only use this effect in the Main Phase once per turn. The equipped monster cannot attack this turn.

**S3 - ****Star Sniper Rifle – Equipment Spell**: This card can only be equipped to a monster that includes [Star Battler] in its name. Increase the monster's ATK by 400. When you activate this card, put one "bullet counter" on this card. You can use one "bullet counter" to destroy one monster on the Field.

**S4 - ****Star Automatic Pistol – Equipment Spell**: This card can only be equipped to a monster that includes [Star Battler] in its card name. Increase this monster's ATK by 400. Put six "bullet counters" on this card. For each counter, you can do 100 direct battle damage to your opponent. This direct attack cannot be affected by monsters, magic, and trap cards. You can only use this effect when the equipped monster attacks during battle phase.

**S5 - ****Star Machine Gun – Equipment Spell**: This card can only be equipped to a monster that includes "Star Battler" in its card name. Increase this card's ATK by 400. If this card destroys your opponent's monster as the result of battle, it can attack once again in a row.

**S6 - ****Advanced Fusion Evolution – Spell**: You can only activate this card when you have "Polymerization" in the graveyard. If you have one Polymerization, remove that card and the Fusion Material monsters in the Graveyard from the game to fusion summon the monster in the graveyard regardless of any summoning requirements it have. If you have two Polymerization, remove them from the game and draw two cards. If you have three Polymerization, pick one magic card that can fuse monsters from your deck.

**S7 - ****Magnetic Fusion – Spell**: You can only activate this card when there's [E-Merc Steel Cutter] on your side of the field. Send E-Merc Steel Cutter on the field and other Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on an "Elemental Hero" Fusion Monster Card from your hand or the side of the field to the Graveyard, and Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck. You may send the other Fusion Material Monster from your deck, Fusion Monster Special Summon this way will return to the Fusion deck at the end of the turn and return E-Merc Steel Cutter from the Graveyard to the Field. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.)


	18. 10A: The Duel of the Knights

**Author's note: **Happy July 4th everyone! Anyhow, I have a blast at the AX! It was definitely more crowded than before but I managed to have a lot of fun during the main events like AMV Contest and Masquerade! The highlight of the day is Yoko Kanno in the concert. Also, I get to see some Yugioh cosplayers from all three anime. Enough about me, I hope you enjoy this chapter because I felt like this is a weak chapter. So I apologize in advance if it does not live up to the previous chapters' standards.

I wonder what happened to other reviewers? Well I hope you guys review and thanks for reading.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! Credit goes to GLL99 for subs of GX episode 12.

**

* * *

Episode 10: Duel of the Knights  
**

It was a shocking day of all days in Duel Academy. The reason for this shock was the fact that a young Pro League Duelist had lost to a duelist here at the Academy. Of all duelists, the Pro League Duelist would have lost to; he had lost to an Osiris Red. That loss dealt great damage to his precious credit. His reputation as the youngest Pro League Duelist was on a loose standing because no one would wish to sponsor an inexperienced youthful duelist, especially the one who lost to the lowest ranking student of Duel Academy. At the Dueling Stadium, the Osiris Reds were cheering for Yuki Kurai's victory over Leroy Eagles. The Ra Yellows and Obelisk Blues were completely surprised at this sudden turnabout of victory. The Ra Yellows felt a ray of hope that they could become the highest ranked Duelist but at the same time, the Obelisk Blues felt incredibly pissed that Kurai continued winning his duels.

Leroy was walking down the hallway of the top floor of Duel Academy normally reserved for staff and teachers. He was furious at his humiliating loss with Kurai. He refused to accept his loss, "I refuse to believe it! That I lost to an Osiris Red! I refuse to believe that luck was part of skill! I'll duel him again and we'll see how lucky he is! I'm far better than he could ever be in his lifetime!" He actually planned to challenge Kurai to another duel to prove whose superior in skills but suddenly, he was called for a meeting. He arrived at the front of the door where led to his meeting. He slammed the door opened, "What the hell do you want with me?" His eyes widened in shock and instantly, he regretted what he just yelled. He thought he would be meeting with some foolish professor like Professor Morgan but rather he was facing a mid-age man dressed in a professional white uniform. The man had short maroon brown hair and an eye patch over his left eye. He was sitting in the professor's leather chair with his arms preached on the desk. His stature was the look of a powerful boss. He stuttered, "C-C-Chairman!" He also noticed a familiar purple haired lady by the Chairman's side, "And Emeralda! What…are you guys doing here?"

Emeralda crossed her arms, "Do you honestly think we would miss your duel with a supposed duelist who defeated Shadow? It was all over in the newspapers…thanks to you."

Leroy looked away embarrassingly as he felt like he was being lectured by a strict mother, "Ah…yeah…I did tell the newspaper…I thought they know about the person who fought Shadow…and I didn't think you would be here for such a meager duel."

Chairman narrowed his solo eye and his presence was becoming more pressured on Leroy, "A meager duel?...Your reputation as the youngest Pro League Duelist was loose. Any loss and every reporter will make a mockery out of you. Why do you think we chose your duels for you?"

Leroy gulped as his very soul felt invaded by the fearsome gaze of the Chairman, "Because you have absolute trust in my skills?"

Chairman yelled, "Wrong!" His loud tone nearly made Leroy jumped out of fright.

Emeralda sighed in disappointment, "Because we know that a single loss will easily shatter your fragile reputation. That is why we made sure that your Duels will at least have 90 percent chance of victories."

Leroy couldn't believe his ears, "What?...All my duels in the Pro League…were rigged. Didn't I even win with my own skills?"

Chairman explained, "It was your skills that brought you your victories but it was your own arrogance that lead to your downfall. Your arrogance lost our support."

Leroy's eyes widened even more in greater shock. He just lost the support of the Senrigan Group and it was his entire fault. If he hadn't been so arrogant and so absorbed in restoring his father's reputation, he wouldn't have challenge Kurai. He defended, "Wait! I can win more duels! Beside the world doesn't need to know about my loss against Yuki! I'll stop doing stupid actions! I won't fail your expectations."

Chairman narrowed his eye coldly, "You already have. You wasted your chance with the Senrigan Group. Fortunately, with our power, we will keep the press quiet and the dueling world won't know about your pathetic loss however I don't allow second chances. We will now sever our ties with you."

"But.." Leroy pleaded.

Chairman glared, "It's final! Now leave."

Leroy's eyes widened more in shock of betrayal. His body shook and his eyes wavered with fear due to the sudden loss of his support, his strength behind his status as the Pro League Duelist. He knew he can't argue with the Chairman anymore. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, "Fine." He stormed off, not wanting to see them again.

Emeralda averted her face toward the Chairman and asked, "Is it really necessary to cut him off our support? He is still young and will tend to make mistakes."

Chairman sat back at the leather chair and closed his eye as he answered, "Regardless of what age he is, the Senrigan Group does not sponsor incompetent duelists."

Emeralda looked down slightly, "That's rather harsh."

Chairman opened his eye and clenched his hands together with his elbows on the desk. He rested his chin on his hands, "Do you know why Leroy's father lost himself?"

"Eh?" Emeralda glanced at the Chairman.

Chairman continued, "It was because that man didn't have the strength to overcome his obstacle, his loss against Shadow. He continued to plunge in his own sorrows until he chose to end his life." He smirked, "Leroy might be a different story. He'll be a strong duelist if he overcomes this obstacle."

"Hmm," Emeralda smiled knowingly as she knew the Chairman was a kind person inside his strict exterior. She moved her strand of hair away from her forehead, "So…who am I going to help if Leroy's gone?"

Chairman sat back in his chair as he reached into his coat and took out a small picture, "Not to worry, I already selected this one long time ago. He'll be ready soon." He handed the picture to Emeralda.

Emeralda looked at the picture of a young handsome boy with gray hair and cool blue eyes. She noticed the name below the picture, "Ed Phoenix. He sounds fascinating."

Chairman smirked, "He'll soon make his debut in the Pro League soon. Better take care of him well."

Emeralda nodded, "Yes, Chairman."

* * *

Leroy slowly walked down the hallway, feeling crestfallen. He felt crushed by the heavy weight of extreme pressure left by the thick tension given by his former boss. At the same time, he felt furious at the Chairman for discarding him so easily like trash. He was a former champion for goodness's sake! But what he was mad at was a low-ranked duelist who defeated him. He yelled frustratingly as he punched the wall. He hit it so hard that his clenched fist bled. He hissed, "Kurai…I'll make you pay for this."

"Revenge is not everything." A deep voice interjected.

"Who's there?" Leroy quickly looked around to find the owner's voice.

Gabe walked out behind the corner of the hallway and revealed himself.

Leroy snarled, "You? If you think you can talk to me out of revenge, you're just wasting your time!"

Gabe shook his head in disappointment, "You still haven't see it, didn't you? What cause your downfall?"

Leroy glared, "I don't need to see anything! Kurai is the one who did this to me! I'll get him back! I swear I will!"

Gabe sighed as he knew that lectures will not calm this enraged duelist down. He then looked at him seriously with his stern firm eyes, "Since you haven't seen it, I'll have to dismiss you."

Leroy's eyes widened, "What?"

Gabe affirmed, "You heard me. You're dismissed. You're no longer Obelisk Blue. In fact, you're no longer student of South Duel Academy."

Leroy's eyes shook in disbelief, "You…you can't do that!"

Gabe crossed his arms, "Like I told the Headmistress of Osiris Red, you're under my guidance. You broke the rules by issuing an official challenge to one of our students. If you're Pro League Duelist, I'm sure you can get away with it but since you're no longer one. As your Headmaster, I can decide your status. And as if now, Obelisk Blue don't need a duelist like you."

Leroy retorted, "Duelist like me? What the hell do you mean by that?"

Gabe turned away from him, "I don't need to repeat myself. You better leave this island by midnight." He walked away.

"Hey….don't just walk away!" Leroy shouted, "Don't you dare walk away from me! I'm a Pro League Duelist! You can't just walk away from, you stupid senile old man! Hey!" He just watched the taller man disappeared from his sight. He then couldn't suppress his growing anger and yelled to the sky, "ARGHHHHH!"

* * *

A week had passed since Leroy's loss to Kurai. The excitement had already died out as the higher ranks personally don't care about the Osiris Red and for odd reason, it was not mentioned the newspapers at all. The higher ranks immediately discarded his victory as pure luck as proven in his duel. What was more exciting than the duel between Leroy and Kurai was that on the very same day, Leroy disappeared and had never returned ever since. Many rumors were flying around such as that he was kicked out of the Pro League or he was too humiliated to face others. However, that excitement softened because of the increasing fear of what was about to occur. The Promotion Exam.

* * *

Although the South Duel Academy was currently having the Promotion Exam, the Duel Academia already had their couple of weeks ago. However right now, an Obelisk Blue was currently in verge of losing his status as a top Obelisk Blue.

"Professor Chronos! What is the meaning of this?" Manjoume demanded an explanation, "Why was I moved into that seat?"

Chronos answered, "Because you, Signore, lost to an Osiris Red student. And that is not all. Signore, tomorrow, you must duel with Ra Yellow's Daichi Misawa with a dorm change at stake!"

"T-then, if I lose, I'll be demoted to Ra Yellow?" Manjoume figured out the rest.

"Now, now, take your seat-no ne. Your own seat." Chronos emphasized the word "own."

Manjoume gritted his teeth as he strongly hated this change of events. It didn't get better when students started laughing at him. They quickly laughed so loud that Manjoume just ran off from the classroom. He yelled, "A demotion, he says?" He refused to let it happen to him.

Inside Duel Academia, there would be a duel between a Ra Yellow and an Obelisk Blue to determine their rankings depending on the victor.

* * *

It was another peaceful day in Duel Academy but this day was any different from any other regular day. It was the day of Promotion Exam that determines the ranks of the students of their grades. This Promotion Exam was an important exam, more important than the entrance exam and Should Not Be Missed!

Izumi, one of the Osiris Red students, was sleeping peacefully on her bed.

The narrator took out a bullhorn and yelled, "I SAID IT SHOULD NOT BE MISSED!"

Izumi just snored gently as she snuggled with her Winged Kuriboh stuffed doll.

The narrator twitched and tossed numerous Yami Kuriboh painful action figures at Izumi, "Damnit woman, wake up already!"

Izumi fell off her bed roughly due to the narrator's precise throwing.

"Ouchhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Izumi cried out as she rubbed her back. She opened her eyes slowly and glanced around, "When do I fall off the bed and why do my back hurts so much?" She yawned as she stretched, "Start of another day. Start of another week." She glanced at her cute clock and her eyes turned wide as dinner plates.

"I'm lateeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Izumi suddenly rushed out, leaving her dorm in dusts. Izumi held a toothbrush in her mouth and a comb hanging to her hair. She kept repeating to herself, "Late! Late! Late! Late! Late!" She picked up the pace and rivaled the cheetah's speed.

* * *

Tsubaki and Kurai were just walking to the Duel Academy, heard a loud rumbling noise behind them. Tsubaki checked out of curiosity, "Huh? An earthquake?"

Kurai just took a step to his right.

Suddenly a running Izumi sent Tsubaki flying while Kurai just stood there out of her way.

Tsubaki screamed with big white eyes, " !" He disappeared into the sky with a ping.

Izumi made a sound of car stopping with a brake as she skidded to a complete stop. She blinked at Kurai, "Yuki? Where's Tsubaki?"

Suddenly, they heard a giant splash in the ocean next to them and Izumi just gaped with a giant sweat droplet on her head. She panicked as she rushed to the ocean, "Tsubaki! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I didn't see you there!"

Tsubaki stuck his head out of the ocean wave and spoke sarcastically, "Sure, that's what they all say."

Kurai just smirked out of amusement.

* * *

A minute later, Tsubaki was drying himself as he twisted his uniform to pour the excess salt water out.

Izumi was confused as she stared at the two male Osiris Red students, "Um, how come you guys are not in classes?" She combed her hair.

Tsubaki untwisted his uniform and flapped it, "What are you talking about?"

Izumi questioned, "Isn't class starting right now?"

Tsubaki looked at her as she was an idiot, "Do you know that we don't have classes today?"

Izumi blinked and complained, "You mean I came running all the way here for nothing?"

Tsubaki continued, "You do know that today is the Promotion Exam, do you?"

Izumi stared at Tsubaki as she turned ghostly white with a dumb expression on her face. A sweat droplet formed on her giant white head as she answered, "Um….no?" Suddenly she erupted with tears streaming out of her eyes, "Oh my god! Today is the Promotion exam! And I forgot to study! How could I forget about such an important exam!"

A faint blush spread across Tsubaki's face as he rubbed his cheek nervously, "Um…that's not the only thing you forgot."

Kurai just looked away too with a super duper tiny blush on his face too.

"Huh?" Izumi's eyes were still teary, "This test determines you stay or not?"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped but swayed his head, "Um…nope…..but…" He commented, "Cute pajamas."

Izumi's eyes widened in pure shock as she looked at herself dressed in purple pajamas. Her entire body turned beet red out of embarrassment and a loud ear-drum piercing scream was heard throughout the entire island.

* * *

Minutes later, Izumi had her head down on the desk inside the classroom with a sulking shadow over her. She muttered, "Why….Why me…."

Tsubaki sweat-dropped but put on his cheering smile, "Come on, it's not like we see it before." He remembered the time that Izumi was late to class in her pajamas.

Izumi sulked even more, "Do you just have to remind me that?"

Kurai just sighed annoyingly, "Just focus on the exam, idiot."

A twitching mark appeared on the back of her head as Izumi mumbled with her face still down on the desk, "Jeeze, thanks for trying to cheer me up."

Professor Zenobia just came in with a fairly stack of papers, "Alright, Osiris Red, it's time for the written exam."

"Written Exam?" Izumi exclaimed as she pulled her head back up.

"Yeah, it's the exam to determine who get to fights who in each grade. Once you duel, it determines your rank, making you closer to the next grade or further away. I study all night last night," Tsubaki moved his sight from Izumi and glared at Kurai, "So I will make him admit that I'm a strong rival!"

Kurai just scoffed in taunting tone, "Heh."

Tsubaki's forehead veins twitched and his eyes were red, "What is that supposed to mean?" He yelled as he pointed his finger accursedly at Kurai.

Izumi just ignored the heated sparks between two duelists as she sulked, "Not only that I forgot, I didn't even get to study. Woe is me."

Zenobia walked up to their seats after handing out the exam papers to others. She smiled, "Kurai Yuki, it's very sweet to finally meet you face to face."

Kurai just stared back with a bored expression.

Zenobia chuckled politely, "I knew you would look at me that way. I do hear of your famous reputation as a silent troublemaker but that's not what I want to talk about."

Kurai narrowed his eyes, indicating that he didn't really but he's listening.

Zenobia smiled, "I have an interesting proposal for you but I can't tell you here. So once you're done with exam, come meet with me for further details."

"Why should I?" Kurai replied coldly.

"I have something that you cannot resist." Zenobia chuckled as she left to pass more exams.

"What was that all about?" Izumi asked.

Kurai just shrugged as he started on the exam.

Izumi looked at the exam as it was the most dangerous thing in the entire world.

During the exams, Tsubaki was writing the answers down frantically while sweating a lot as he spending all his small capacity of mental energy on it. Izumi was panicking as she grabbed her head and yelled mentally. Kurai just wrote the answers calmly.

Izumi read the question, "It is now your opponent's turn. Your opponent had 4000 Life Points with Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Lord of the Dragon on the Field. You have only one face-down card on the Field. In your hand, you have Executioner Makuya and Magic Cylinder. You only had 1000 Life Points. What face-down card should it be in order to deplete your opponent's Life Points to zero?" She pondered, _'A Ring of Destruction? Nah, that will kill me too plus it wouldn't affect Blue Eyes because Lord of Dragons is on the field. Maybe Mirror Force? But the question is asking how to destroy his life Points, !'  
_  
Kurai easily answered this question by writing, "The face-down card should be Raigeki Break which I would only activate during battle phase. By using this card, I should discard Executioner Makuya and destroyed Lord of Dragon, destroying the Blue Eyes' protection. Because of Executioner Makuya's effect, I can activate Magic Cylinder from my Hand and dealt 4500 Life Points of damage to my Opponent."

* * *

After the exam, Tsubaki sighed out of relief, "Whew! That wasn't so bad after all!" He exclaimed happily and asked, "How do you do, Izumi?" He blinked as a black aura surrounded Izumi, who covered her face with her arms on the desk, "Izumi?" A sweat droplet appeared on Tsubaki's head.

"I suck…." Izumi sulked as her black despairing aura went bigger, "I know I failed the exam."

Tsubaki quickly stepped away from the black scary aura, "Um…..there's always the dueling exam…..Say where does Yuki go?" He tried to change the subject before he was about to be swallowed into the dark abyss of despair.

Izumi snapped out of her despair and looked up, "Yeah, the last time I saw him, he went to talk to that busty Professor."

Kurai came back to the classroom.

Izumi walked up to him, "Hoi Yuki, what does the Professor wants with you?"

Kurai looked down on her, "None of your business." He said it rudely.

Izumi puts her hands on her hips and pouted, "What? Can't you blame a person for being so curious?"

Kurai just crossed his arms as he sat down in his desk.

Tsubaki stretched as he moved his hands behind his head, "Nothing to do anyway, since the exam grading took an hour."

Izumi pondered, "Wonder how's Alex doing?"

Tsubaki heard her and mentioned, "Come to think of it, I heard the Obelisk Blues are done grading. I bet we can see Alex's duel!"

That caught Kurai's interest.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Izumi called out.

* * *

At the hallway of the Duel Academy, a familiar blue-eyed Obelisk Blue student with glasses. He muttered his opponent's name, "Alexander Von Schroeder. Even though Leroy is an arrogant impeccable fool, at least he keeps his part of the deal." He walked away as he wrote the name of his opponent in his tiny notebook.

A crowd of Obelisk Blue students were pushing each other around, trying to get a single glimpse of their opponents' names. Izumi sweat-dropped as she was surprised at the large round crowd, "What are we going to do now? His duel can be anywhere!"

"Well, it has to be in the dueling room, of course." Tsubaki pointed out the obvious.

"I'm not going to search every one of them! I don't want to miss his duel like I did to yours!" Izumi whined because she wanted to see an interesting duel and she was curious to know what Alexander's deck was like.

"Oh fine, then forgive me what I was about to do next." Tsubaki cracked his knuckles.

"Huh?" Izumi asked in confusion.

Suddenly, a loud ear-piercing scream echoed through the hallway as Izumi was sent flying to the list and landed roughly. She groaned as she rubbed her butt and snapped, "Damnit, don't ever throw me again, Tsubaki!" She glared with red killer eyes.

A sweat-drop formed on the back of Tsubaki's head and he slowly turned around while shrugging, "She said she wanted to see the list and this is the thanks I get?"

Izumi wiped the dust off her uniform and narrowed her eyes at the duel list, "Alex is fighting at the Duel Stadium #A against Ethan Grey."

Kurai raised his eyes in interest.

"Ethan Grey?" Tsubaki commented, "Sound like a full-time American or European."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ethan was typing on a highly advanced computer in his humongous room with a king-sized bed and lavish decorations. On the wide computer screen was a display of Alexander and his deck. He commented while researching, "A "Knight" deck. So like Von Schroeder to use a myth-related deck. Now, let's see if he has any other duels…" He rapidly pressed couple of buttons and brought up more windows on the computer screens, "…Impossible…his only known duel is against the examiner…and the rest of the information is protected by high-level security…not that it would stop me…" He continued pressing more buttons, letting the clicking and clacking sounds echoed throughout his huge room. As he was trying to hack his way through the firewalls, his mind couldn't help but wandered to the past.

* * *

For generations, the Grey Family had served the Von Schroeder family. They protected the royalty from harm and tended to every bidding without complaints. It was many years ago when Ethan was a mere child and he had an older brother named Darren.

Darren was the same age as Siegfried Von Schroeder, the heir of the royal family. Because of their similar ages, Ethan's older brother attended the same school as Siegfried's assistant and fellow classmate. But even though Darren's job was supposed to be an assistant, his common interest with Siegfried for advanced technologies of gaming made them very close friends. It wasn't long after they graduated from school with top honors that they immediately started working on technology that will revolutionize the card game world.

One day, inside the Von Schroeder castle, young Ethan was walking down the grand hallway, looking for his older brother. He instantly recognized one of the doors leading to an advanced research lab. He noticed that the door was slightly opened and out of natural curiosity, he peeked in. His blue eyes widened in surprise as he saw a live blue-haired Valkyire riding a magnificent white horse.

"Brilliant, Darren! With this technology, we can create a whole new world of Duel Monsters." Siegfriend complimented.

Darren grinned as he felt proud of their creation, "We can sell this to Pegasus from Industrial Illusions! I can imagine everyone's eyes lighten up when they see this."

Ethan continued staring with his eyes wavered in awe.

* * *

"Tch…" Ethan scowled as he precious childhood memories quickly turned sour. He didn't dwell anymore as he finally hacked and gained the information he needed. He analyzed Alexander's previous matches and concluded, "So he's a cautious duelist…he set up ambushes with his knights combined with his trap and magic cards…" He smirked as he grabbed his deck from his desk, "Unfortunately for you, this deck will counter that. I'm not going to lose like that stupid Pro League Duelist."

* * *

After noon, the entire stadium was thick with students expecting to watch the duels between the elites.

"Alex!" Alexander heard his name called and turned around to see Izumi with the others waving her hand at him.

"Izumi," Alexander smiled as he walked up to them, "Here to see the duel?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Tsubaki smirked and suddenly his eyes glinted, "Unless there's a duel where a cold-hearted stiff bastard is losing."

Immediately, Tsubaki was screaming as he was sent flying to the audience chairs.

Kurai brushed off his hands with his forehead vein twitching, "Annoying."

Alexander just chuckled softly, "Thank you for coming, Izumi." He glanced at Kurai, "Checking out my strength, huh? You'll be disappointed."

Kurai glared at Alexander, his eyes saying what the hell do you mean by that?

Izumi glanced between Kurai and Alexander, "Huh?" She was confused, "What do you mean, disappointed?"

Alexander smiled, "I'm not really that great."

"Oh come on," Izumi said in disbelief, "If you're not that good, you wouldn't be in Obelisk Blue."

"Again, my family connections," Alexander explained, "I'm not happy about it."

Izumi frowned but smiled, "Well don't worry! Just try your best!"

"LORD VON SCHROEDER!" A familiar ditzy voice was calling his name.

Izumi twitched at the sound of his name, "… please don't tell who I think it is…" She looked back.

"LORD VON SCHROEDER!" Lisa, the spoiled Obelisk Blue student, was pouncing happily with starry eyes and pink sparking background.

Izumi paled as she was mentally scarred forever.

A sweat droplet formed on Alexander's forehead while he was still smiling.

Kurai's eye twitched out of complete annoyance.

Vanessa was panting as she was dragging the giant pink background to catch up with Lisa while tossing pink flower petals.

Lisa clasped Alexander's hands with her hands, "Lord Von Schroeder, I wish you a perfect victory on your duel! May your talents shine across the school!" Lisa complimented.

Numerous tiny sweat droplets formed on Alexander's head but he still smiled, "Why thank you."

"Please," Izumi scoffed as she rolled her eyes, "The only thing preventing him from achieving a perfect victory is you."

Lisa's forehead vein twitched but she still smiled, "What an adorable freshman. They're so full of energy." She glared at Izumi, sending heated sparks from her eyes.

Vanessa just sighed as she wondered how she was involved in this.

Izumi just crossed her arms and looked away.

Lisa smirked, "Oh the girls would love to see two cute guys." She snapped her fingers and there was a faint rumbling across the ground.

"Huh, what is that?" Izumi asked as she braced herself.

Suddenly, a huge stampede of fan girls was rushing in.

Izumi's eyes turned wide as dinner plates and instantly, she was sent flying as the fan girls crashed into her. The fan girls quickly crowded around Kurai and Alexander.

Izumi was screaming as she crashed into the audience seats. When she landed, Izumi's eyes were all dizzy and she was mumbling, "Pretty stars." She was watching the stars circling around her head.

Tsubaki groaned, "Join the club."

"Can I join?" Tsubaki heard a cheerful voice.

Tsubaki stopped groaning as he instantly recognized that voice, "That voice!" He let his head fell back to see the owner. A strong bare arms suddenly wrapped around Tsubaki's head, causing him to scream, "AHHHHH!"

Rad, who was sitting behind Tsubaki, held the Osiris Red in his grip, "Yo, Tsubaki!" He glanced at Izumi, "Yo, Izumi!"

Izumi was still groaning as she rubbed her bruised head, "Oh hey, Rad…"

Tsubaki groaned as he was struggling to free himself from Rad's strong hold, "Let me go already! You're choking me!"

"Oh…" Rad immediately let Tsubaki go and laughed, "Sorry, sorry about that."

Tsubaki coughed as he was gasping for more air, "Jeeze, why are you always here with us? Don't you have any Ra Yellow friends to hang out with?"

Rad nodded, "I do but…" He grinned, "I thought it would be interesting to hang out with you."

Tsubaki stared at Rad in disbelief. He looked away with blank eyes, "He's the happier version of Alex…"

Rad laughed cheerily.

**Part A End!**


	19. 10B: The Duel of the Knights

**Author's note: **I'm not feeling my mojo in this chapter. So I don't think this is great as the other chapters probably because I'm having a hard time using a deck suited for Alex. But I hope you like this chapter, so please leave a review and thanks for reading.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yugioh GX. Credit goes to GLL99 for subs of GX episode 12.

**

* * *

Episode 10: Part B!**

This time, Alexander appeared with a calm expression and a gentle smile on his face. The Blade Knight appeared behind him with his sword erect and shield held proudly.

Alexander smiled, "So it's my turn, huh?"

"Yeah," The narrator explained, "And I chose Blade Knight, so I wouldn't spoil the readers with your upcoming duel."

"Good," Alexander smiled and suddenly he gave off a black evil aura, "We don't want that to happen, do we?" He smiled demonically.

The narrator turned super-deformed with many fear sweat droplets pouring all over his face and teary quivering eyes, "No…" He whimpered in a high pitch tone.

"Good." Alexander smiled as he returned to normal.

The narrator burst into hysterical tears, "WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HE'S SCARY!"

* * *

The duel between Obelisk Blue elites were about to start and Izumi was sitting on the audience seats along with Tsubaki, Kurai, and Rad.

Izumi put her hand above her eyes and observed the entire stadium, "Wow, the whole stadium is completely packed!"

"Well, of course," Tsubaki commented, "Everybody wants to see what the Obelisk Blues can do. That's why it's so full."

"Heh, it's a good thing, we got the best seats. We're so lucky!" Rad smiled. Suddenly, all three of them felt instantly warm as someone was giving them a fiery glare.

Lisa was glaring at them, "These seats were supposed to be reserved for me and Lord Yuki!" She yelled with fiery eyes while Kurai just sat in his seat, ignoring her although his eye was twitching out of annoyance with the noise.

Izumi glared back with her fiery eyes, "Hey, wherever Yuki goes, we go too!" Both ladies continued glaring at each other with heat sparks between their eyes.

Vanessa was just walking around their seats, carrying snack food trays, "Peanuts! Cotton Candy! Pretzel! Chip! Pizza!"

"Pizza!" Tsubaki raised his hand high as he exclaimed his favorite food.

"Cotton Candy!" Rad shouted his choice.

Kurai's eyebrow twitched as he was annoyed.

"Are these seats available?" A gentle voice asked.

Lisa and Izumi both averted their sight from each other toward the person who asked the question.

Izumi's frown turned into a wide smile, "Shizuka-san!"

Shizuka smiled back, "Hello there, Izumi-san. I hope you don't mind. The entire stadium is full."

Izumi welcomed her, "Sure, no problem!"

Lisa gaped as more intruders came in and invaded her personal base, "Hey, wait just a min….."

"Oh good, you found extra seats." A little blonde girl walked past Shizuka and took her seat.

Izumi's eyes turned wide as softballs as she gaped and pointed dramatically at the little girl, "Instructor Rebecca?"

Lisa yelled too, "Instructor Hopkins?" She suddenly turned all lady-like, "Please pardon my horrible display of rude and ungrateful behavior, instructor. You can use these seats for anything you like, for rest or for your wise teachings."

Rebecca sighed annoyingly as she moved her glasses up the nose, "Do you mind? I'm off-duty." She noticed Vanessa serving snacks to the boys, "Hey, I want peanuts."

Shizuka also noticed Rad and greeted, "Hello, Radnor-san, you're here again?"

Rad nodded, "Of course plus these are the best seats in the house!"

"You guys seemed to know each other well," Izumi pointed out, "Is it because both of you are in Ra Yellow?"

Shizuka chuckled, "That's one reason but Radnor-san is actually very popular and easy to get along with. Anyone in Ra Yellow likes him."

Izumi blinked in surprise and looked at Rad, "Wow, I didn't know you're that popular."

"Of course, he's popular." Rebecca munched on peanuts, "Why wouldn't he be if he's the number one 1st year Ra Yellow duelist."

"Seriously?" Izumi was stunned, "Rad, you never told us this!"

Rad laughed, "I don't think it's worth mentioning!"

"You serious, right? This guy is actually the top of his year and his rank?" Tsubaki couldn't believe it, "If you're so damn popular, why hang out with us?"

Rad smiled, "I told you already. I thought you guys would be fun!"

Tsubaki rolled his eyes, "Fun for you, sure, but to me, you're some crazed Psycho maniac." Suddenly the Psycho theme was playing. He yelled at Izumi, "Stop that!"

Izumi turned off the boom box and laughed sheepishly, "Sorry, trying to create the mood here."

"...is that what you really think, Tsubaki?" Rad asked.

Tsubaki never heard such sadness in Rad's tone, "Um…" He was struggling with his choice of words. He tried to say something but nothing came out of his mouth

Rad looked down with his eyes in shadows, "Just because I act goofy, does that make me a maniac?"

Tsubaki bowed his head in shame, "No…I'm just being rash…I mean I'm not good with thinking and I just say random crap…I…"

Suddenly Rad smiled goofily, "Ha! Ha! Ha! That's okay!"

Tsubaki blinked, "Eh?"

Rad grinned, "You gave me a nickname, huh? That means we're awesome friends now!"

Tsubaki turned shocking white as his jawbone dropped to the ground_, '…so…dense…' _He snapped, "You mean I got worried over nothing? RAD!"

Izumi sweat-dropped while the angry Tsubaki was chasing Rad who seemed to having fun. She shrugged, "Hot heated people are always the one who get the most friends." She asked, "So how come the Instructor is with you?"

Shizuka explained, "We just came to watch the duels like everyone here."

"Oh." Izumi understood, "So even Instructor is watching the duel. I just wonder if the Obelisk Blue duels are that really exciting?"

"First of all, you don't need to call me instructor. I'm off duty. Just call me by my first name and beside we're the same age. I'm kid like you too." Rebecca explained, "Second of all, the Obelisk Blue duels determine the rank of the students in the grade. The number one student is bound to be promoted to the Pro League Duelist. We're watching this Promotion exam to see any interesting contestants."

"Precisely what my adorable Rebecca-chan said!" A mid-age man dressed in casual Hawaiian outfit came out of nowhere and rubbed Rebecca's head frantically.

Shizuka sweat-dropped and yelled, "Fisherman-san!"

Rebecca's forehead vein twitched and then she delivered a mean uppercut punch, "Stay away from me, you lecherous pervert!"

The Fisherman rubbed his bruised chin and had fake tears coming out of his closed eyes, "Little Rebecca is so mean to daddy."

"You are not my father!" Rebecca snapped.

Izumi's eyes turned blank and she had a large shocked gaping mouth, "The Fisherman!"

Tsubaki stopped chasing Rad and looked back, "Ehh? The creepy old guy from the cliff?"

Lisa snapped as her beautiful features suddenly turned demonic. She had it with more intruders, "Hey, these seats are off-limits! Now get off, everyone!"

Rad asked innocently, "If that's true, how come the Instructor get to be here?"

Lisa nearly forgot that there was a teacher here. Not wanting to act bad in front of Rebecca, she just sat down in her seat, frowning that she didn't get to have private time with Kurai.

The Fisherman noticed the Osiris Red students and exclaimed happily, "Why it's the cute Osiris Red girl and a merman!"

Tsubaki's forehead veins twitched and cracked, "I'm not a merman, damnit! Do I look like I have a frigging fish tail?"

"You're not?" The Fisherman tilted his head sideway in confusion.

"Damn you, old man!" Tsubaki stomped on the poor Fisherman and beat up him in dust clouds.

Many sweat-drops formed on Shizuka's head and she tried to explain, "But that's the Princ…"

"Beat him up! Tear him apart!" Rebecca interrupted her while cheering for Tsubaki.

Rad laughed, "Hey, Tsubaki, can I join in?"

Shizuka's sweat droplet became bigger, "….Never mind."

Kurai's forehead vein twitched even more as he was completely annoyed by this.

* * *

Just as Alexander and Ethan's duel was about to start, another duel in Duel Academia was about to begin but…

At Osiris Red dorms, Tome was pounding on Judai's door, calling him out, "Bad news, Judai-chan, bad news!"

Judai opened the door and asked, "What's wrong, Tome-san?"

Tome answered, "I unloaded a ship and went down to the pier, but there they were, all thrown away!" She waved her arms, "A whole bunch of cards!"

Judai was shocked, "Eh, there were cards?" He immediately ran to the pier, followed by Sho and Misawa. Tome followed too at her pace.

As they arrived at the pier, they were shocked to see a whole deck of cards spread out on top of the ocean water. Judai recognized the 1st card, "Ring of Destruction…" he recognized another card, "and Blood Vorse, which means…Misawa's cards were the ones thrown away!"

"I was careless." said Misawa, "This deck was in the desk that was put in the hallway yesterday."

Sho looked at Misawa, "Who in the world could have done this?"

Judai gritted his teeth, "And this was your big chance to be promoted to Obelisk Blue, too!" He yelled, "Now we don't have the time to gather up all your cards!" He turned his head back to Misawa, "What are you going to do? How will you fight without your deck? Your test is going to be starting soon, Misawa!"

Misawa just stared at his friends and his cards floating in the sea.

* * *

Alexander walked up to the dueling stage and saw his opponent waiting for him. He smiled and offered his hand, "Ethan Grey, right? Let's have a good duel."

Ethan shook Alexander's hand, "It is a great honor to duel with the member of the Von Schroeder family." He had a different thought, _'Heh, it would be a greater honor if you lost, Von Schroeder."_

"An honor, you say?" Alexander chuckled, "There's no need for formalities after all our families are friends, right?"

Ethan swayed his head, "I can't do that. You're a Von Schroeder and I'm a Grey. Our statuses are too far apart to be equal. Beside, I greatly admire Mr. Siegfried." He scoffed silently, _'Yeah, right…who would admire that thief…'_

"Ah Siegfried," Alexander commented, "He's my older cousin. He used the Valkyrie Deck."

Ethan nodded, "Yes, he does. In his honor, I created a deck similar to his." He scowled mentally, _'Just like how your cousin stole my brother's research, I'm stealing his prized deck theme…with my connection, it's not hard to get other copies of the Valkyrie cards.'_

Alexander smiled, "Oh how fascinating. So you're using the mythical female knights that served under the great God, Odin." He took out his deck, "You know, Ethan, I must say I truly admire your family and your astounding loyalty."

Ethan replied with a smile, "I don't deserve your praise." He narrowed his eyes mentally, _'Where is he going with this conversation?'_

Alexander shuffled his deck, "It's because of your loyalty, I was inspired to use the valiant knights that served their lords with impeccable faith."

Ethan frowned, _'…He used the Knights deck because of my family?...' _He smiled, "Please, Von Schroeder, you're making me blush."

"Actually, that was a lie." Alexander stopped shuffling.

"Eh?" Ethan was surprised at the change of the tone.

"I used a Knight deck because I like Knights just as my cousin, Leon, likes Fairy Tales. So everything I said about being inspired by the Grey is a lie," Alexander smiled creepily, "Just like how you admire my cousin is a lie."

Ethan gulped as he couldn't help but felt afraid of the hidden message behind Alex's smile. He replied, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Alexander chuckled, "I just want to say. Instead of showering me with false praise, I hope you duel me seriously with real intent to win."

Ethan chuckled nervously, "Nonsense, I just want a good duel…"

Alexander smiled, "Alright…if you intend to keep playing this way…I'll play along."

'_What's with this guy?'_ Ethan quickly activated his duel disk, "I'll go first!" He drew six cards from his disk, "I summon Valkyrie Vierte [**M1 (4/1700/1400)**] in defensive position." A beautiful lady dressed with a pink breast plate and steel greaves. She possessed a sky blue angelic wings and a golden winged headband. She rode a white gallant horse with shining mane. She held a thin rapier that was glowing blue in her hand and a small circular shield in her other hand, "I place one card face-down!" A card materialized on the field, "I end my turn."

"Draw!" Alexander drew his card and smiled, "I should start with a very familiar move, Mr. Profiler." He picked one card from his hand, "I summon Blade Knight [**M2 (4/1600/1000)**] in attack mode." A light blue armored knight appeared on the field with his sword and his colored shield and soon another card appeared on the M/T side of the field, "I play one face card and I'm done."

Ethan thought to himself, _'Why didn't he attack? Blade Knight has enough ATK to destroy my monster card unless he's wary of my face-down card…but then researching the previous duels, Alexander's Knight deck strategy is based on successful Direct Attacks. His face down card must be Hidden Ambush_ [**T1**] _and I do have a monster whose higher attack strength than Blade Knight.'_ He drew his card and smirked, _'However, my face down card will prevent that.'_ Ethan switched his monster card to vertical position, "Valkyrie Vierte, destroys his Blade Knight with your sword!" The horse neighed as he galloped across the field with the Valkyrie rider raised her sword high.

"I activate my trap card." Alexander pressed the M/T button his Duel Disk.

Ethan smirked, _'Now I'll just activate my card and protect my Life Points from direct attack.'  
_  
"I activate Knight's Necessities!" [**T2**] Alexander declared as he revealed his trap card that contained of a picture of a silver armored knight abandoning extra stuffs such as potions and bags and extra clothes and many things that were weighing down on him.

"What!" Ethan was surprised as his calculations were thrown off the edge.

Alexander smiled, "My trap card allowed me to discard cards and increase my monster's ATK by 400 for each card. I discarded three cards to the Graveyard." He threw three cards from his Hand to the Graveyard slot, "Giving a 1200 ATK Bonus to my Blade Knight," The Blade Knight glowed brightly as his initial attack, 1600, increased to 2800, "Also my Blade Knight's effect activate at the same time. Since I only had one card in my hand, my monster gained an additional 400 ATK." The Blade Knight's sword glowed as his ATK increased to 3200, "And the battle still continues."

The Valkyrie Angel continued her charge as she attempted to stab her sword through Blade Knight. But the blue knight countered by swinging his sword and slashed the poor Valkyrie in half. The Valkyrie Angel made a glass shattering sounds as she disappeared.

Ethan: 4000 – 1500 = 2500. Alexander: 4000.

Ethan was stunned, _'Impossible. I thought for sure, he would make a direct attack. This wasn't in my calculations.'_

Alexander smiled, "Heh, that's a wonderful honest expression you have there." He smirked, "Were you thinking that I was going to do a direct attack? Let me tell you one thing. One of the cards I discarded was Hidden Ambush."

Ethan's eyes widened in shock, _'Why does he told me that? Does that mean, he seen through my move?_' He questioned, "Are you telling me that by discarding your entire hand except one card, you planned to throw off my calculations?"

Alexander smiled, "Yes."

Ethan gritted his teeth, "That's…that's a stupid risky move…you only have one card left…it's barely enough to make an impressive move or help you create some combos. So you really are telling me that you're abandoning strategy for pure luck?"

Alexander just smiled with his eyes closed, "After witnessing many of Yuki's duels, I would like to take my chance with luck. After all, this is just a Promotion duel. I have no desire for rankings, so it doesn't matter if I win or lose."

Ethan frowned, "You're just saying that to make me frustrated!"

Alexander chuckled, "So what if I did?"

Ethan couldn't believe his eyes. His opponent discarded almost his entire hand and now leaving things up to luck. Despite all this, Alexander still remained eerily calm. Cold sweat slowly dripped down Ethan's neck as he gulped, "Fine, if that's what you wanted to do. That's your choice but I intent to win." He looked at his hand, "I end my turn."

"Draw." Alexander drew his card, "Now that it is my Standby Phase, I bring back my Little Knight [**M3 (2/500/400)**] back to my Hand." He showed the card of a small child boy fully dressed in silver armor with a cute red cape. He wore a helmet with a red feather on the top. His helmet revealed his adorable puppy eyes.

"Why?" Ethan questioned.

"Think of Little Knight as Sinister Serpent." Alexander smiled as he added the card to his Hand, making the total three, "Decision, decision, oh I know…" He chuckled, "since you expect a direct attack from me…I won't fail your wish." He put his arm out toward Blade Knight, "Blade Knight, attack him directly!"

The Blade Knight suddenly sprinted forward toward Ethan with his sword raised high for an attack.

Ethan quickly activated his face down card, "Not so fast, I activate my trap card, Judgment of Buodan!" [**T3**] The trap card revealed a picture of green cloaked sorcerer holding his glowing staff in protective position, "This trap card allows me to switch a magic card in my hand with the top card of my deck." Ethan drew a card and put one card into his deck. He shuffled it, "Not only that, it negate your monster's attack and ended your battle phase!" The green cloaked sorcerer appeared and raised his glowing staff that sent Blade Knight back to his original spot.

"Oh!" Alexander clapped his hands, "It been years since I saw that card. I'm glad I made a direct attack."

"You waste your direct attack just to see this card?" Ethan rolled his eyes, "I find it hard to believe."

Alexander smiled, "What can I say? I love nostalgic cards. I play one card face-down." An M/T card appeared on the field, "I'm finished."

"Draw!" Ethan drew his card and smirked, "I play a magic card, Ride of the Valkyries!" [**S1**] The magic card appeared on the field with an image of beautiful Greek temples above the white clouds under the clear blue sky, "This card allows me to special summon all Valkyries from my Hand! I special summon Valkyrie Zwei [**M4 (5/1600/1600)**] and two Valkyrie Erste!" [**M5 (6/1600/1800)**] Suddenly three beautiful female warriors appeared in their grey gallant horses. All three of them wore a grey breastplate a sky blue cape along with golden wings headband. Two of them possessed long green hair while the other possessed a long pink hair.

Rebecca commented, "The deadly magic card that almost beat Kaiba long time ago."

Izumi asked, "How did he manage to counter?"

"Kaiba used a card that ended the battle phase." Shizuka explained.

"But then Siegfried countered with a magic card that allowed him to skip to his next battle phase." Rebecca countered.

Shizuka retorted, "Then Kaiba used a trap card that copy that magic card and skip to his battle phase."

"Jeeze, so many counters." Izumi commented.

Rebecca narrowed her eyes, "Wonder what Von Schroeder going to do against his family's deck, heh?"

"I think he will fare well." The Fisherman smirked.

Rebecca paled as the Fisherman was right next to her. She snapped, "Stay away from me!"

"But little Rebecca needs her father!" The Fisherman cried with fake tears.

"You're not my father!" Rebecca roared.

"You don't even have the same skin color!" Tsubaki pointed out.

The Fisherman gasped dramatically as he shrunk into his black background.

Rad pointed at him, "He's even more crazier than me."

"No kidding." Tsubaki agreed.

Kurai just smacked his head, _'I'll do anything for some peace and quiet!'_

"By using Valkyrie Zwei's effect, I destroy your Blade Knight!" Ethan declared as Blade Knight shattered into thousand pieces, "Because of my Magic card, the Blade Knight is removed from the game!" Alexander's duel disk ejected his Blade Knight card, "Now I order all my Valkyries to attack you directly!" Suddenly all three Valkyries's horses galloped across the field toward Alexander, 'Victory is mine.'

Alexander remained composed, "Do you think that I don't know my own older cousin's deck?" He pressed the button for his face down card, "Clearly, you're wrong, I play my trap card, Faith's Protection!" **[T4**] His trap card had a picture of battered knight standing proudly with the support of numerous knights around him, "I discard Little Knight to activate my trap card and protects me from your monster's attacks!" A transparent Little Knight appeared on the field and created an energy barrier around Alexander, protecting him from the Valkyries' assault.

Ethan frowned but inserted a card in his M/T slot, "I place a face-down card and I ended my turn." The three Valkyries disappeared from the Field, "Because of my Magic card, the Valkyries are returned into the deck." He shuffled his deck.

Alexander chuckled, "Oh look, you too only have one card in your hand. Care to try lady luck?"

Ethan snarled, "I'm not you!"

"Heh, alright, Draw." Alexander drew his card, "And I bring back my Little Knight back to my hand." His Duel Disk ejected his card and Alexander caught it. He picked another card from his short Hand, "I summon Knight of Burning Rage." [**M6 (4/1900/1400)**] Suddenly a silver knight appeared on the field dressed in complete silver armor with fiery-like orange shoulder pads and greaves. He had red wild hair and an orange skirt around his wrist. He held an orange glowing sword in his hand, "I discard two cards to activate his effect! Do 600 damages to your opponent!" The knight raised his sword and swung it, delivering a fiery shockwave that pierced through Ethan.

Ethan: 2500 – 600 = 1900. Alexander: 4000.

"Knight of Burning Rage, attack him directly!" Alexander ordered as the silver knight sprinted forward across the field.

Ethan quickly activated his face-down card, "I play Mediation of Flicker!" [**T5**] His trap card revealed a beautiful blue-haired sorceress absorbing energy in her hands, "By removing Judgment of Buodan from the game, I negate your attack!" Suddenly the sorceress appeared on the Field and she cast a spell that sent the Knight back to Alexander's Field.

"I end my turn." Alexander declared. He then smiled with his eyes closed, "By the way, are you the one who told Leroy about Yuki's duel with Shadow?"

Ethan narrowed his eyes and questioned, "What make you thought of that?"

Alexander smiled, "Just curious since I saw Leroy last hanging out with you before his duel and his unfortunate disappearance."

Ethan shrugged, "I don't really have anything to do with him. Let's just continue the duel."

"Draw!" Ethan drew his card, "This card will determine the fate of the duel. I play Treasure of Nibelung!" [**S2**] A magic card that had a picture of an opened grey treasure box with many crystals inside appeared on the Field, "This card allows me to search for Nibelung Ring [**S3**] from my deck," He grabbed his card from his deck, "And I equip this card on your Knight of Burning Rage," suddenly the silver Knight was paralyzed, "Your card cannot attack, change his mode, nor even be used as tribute! However you get to draw two cards, but you have to discard one monster card of the cards you drew." Ethan smirked, "Also, this Magic Card lets me draw five cards!" He drew additional five cards.

Izumi commented, "Such an evil card."

"Well it's certainly broken in my opinion!" Tsubaki complained.

"Well, Siegfried did create that card." Rebecca explained, "With five new cards, it's obvious that he's going to play…"

"I play three Magic cards from my hand, Goddess Skuld's Oracle." [**S4**] A young girl appeared in the field dressed in white robes with yellow shoulder coverings. She had long midnight blue hair tied into two pigtails that extended beyond her waistline. She wore a gold headband and possessed a staff with red orb, "Goddess Belldandy's Guardian." [**S5**] A beautiful woman with long pink hair appeared on the field. She wore the same robe as the other Goddess and possessed the same staff, "Finally, Goddess Urd's Altar." [**S6**] The final female goddess with short golden brown hair appeared on the field. She held same equipment as the other goddesses.

Rebecca's glasses glinted, "The deadly three Goddesses combo."

"I summon a monster face-down!" Ethan placed a card horizontally on his Duel Disk, "I'm done with my turn." He thought to himself, _'With these three cards, I should remove his best cards.'  
_  
"Draw!" Alexander drew two cards due to the Nibelung Ring's effect. He looked at the two cards he drew, "I discarded my Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight [**M7 (7/2300/2100)**] due to your magic card's effect." He grabbed his Little Knight card from his Duel Disk, "I bring back my Little Knight back to my hand and I summon Knight of Swift Gale!" [**M8 (4/1600/1500)**] He used the card he drew and immediately a silver armored knight with neatly combed green hair appeared on the field. He had a large dark green cape with green shoulder pads and greaves shaped like a wind. He held a thin glowing green rapier in his hand.

"I discard Little Knight from my hand to activate my monster's effect," Alexander discarded his Little Knight, "Now Knight of Swift Gale, attack his face-down monster!" The knight sprinted forward and slashed the face-down card in half, revealing a poor little girl dressed in a white robe with sky blue shoulder coverings. She had short orange hair with a winged golden headband. She screamed in pain and disappeared.

"You destroyed my Maiden of Valkyrie!" [**M9 (2/400/500)**] Ethan discarded his monster card into the Graveyard.

Izumi shouted, "Ah! A Maiden monster card. I can use that in my deck."

Shizuka nodded, "That's true. It would be a nice addition to your Magical Girl deck."

Rebecca rolled her eyes, "Are you kidding me? It may be a Maiden but her effect is only useful for Valkyrie." She lectured Izumi, "Look here, you can't just add all monsters with Valkyrie in their names to your deck. If I want to create Amazon deck, should I add Amazon Archer from the earlier set? Maybe but it wouldn't work that well because the Amazons monsters are not tribute fodders."

Izumi had a sweat-dropped dripping behind her head as she slowly backed away, "Instructor, I thought you're on a day off."

Rebecca retorted, "I may be on a day off but I'm not going to stand by and let a duelist make a stupid mistake!"

"My Knight can attack again!" Alexander ordered his monster as the silver knight swung his sword the second time but…

Ethan interrupted, "Not so fast, I activate my Maiden of Valkyrie's effect. When my Maiden of Valkyrie is in the Graveyard while I'm being attacked, I can remove my Maiden," He caught the card that the Duel Disk ejected, "to special summon any monster with Valkyrie in its name back to the Field. I chose Valkyrie Vietre!" The winged Valkyrie in pink armor galloped back to the Field with her gallant horse. Ethan smirked, "Would you still attack?"

"I end my turn." Alexander closed his eyes while composed.

Ethan was surprised at Alexander's reaction, _'How can he still be so calm? Can he see that he's at a large disadvantage? Never mind, I will defeat him.'_

Alexander chuckled, "Since you know much about me, you do know I'm working with the staff as a student assistant, right?"

Ethan narrowed his eyes, wondering what he was trying to say, "Yeah, I knew that."

Alexander smiled, "While I was on the staff computer, I notice someone hack into it and brought up Yuki's files…..I wonder if that is you?"

Ethan didn't reply. He knew Alexander was toying around with him, "You knew about it…so what?"

Alexander chuckled, "Well, I was very curious of why would an intelligent duelist like you would work with Leroy unless he's doing something for you."

Ethan replied bluntly, "Of course. He already did something for me. It's right to return the favor to him."

Alexander smiled, "That is true." He narrowed his eyes, "Leroy used his connections to arrange a duel between you and me. I wonder what for?"

Ethan doesn't want to continue this conversation. Rather, he wanted to win his duel, "I'm going. Draw!" Ethan drew his card, "Now that it is my standby phase, I activate my Goddess Skuld's Oracle! I look at the top three cards of your deck and arrange them in my order. You cannot look at them."

Alexander smiled, "Be my guest."

Suddenly the top three cards of Alexander's deck were revealed.

Ethan looked at the first card, _'Queen's Knight,'_ He moved his eyes to the second card, _'King's Knight,'_ He finally looked at the last card but his eyes widened in shock, _'…what is this feeling? Why is my heart trembling and my body shaking? …what is that card?'_ The last card was Knight of Camelot – King Arthur.

"Like what you see?" Alexander asked while smiling with a chilling look.

Ethan gulped but composed himself, "I put your third card to the top of your deck!" He declared, _'I don't know what that card do but I can tell that it's not good. I have to remove it right away.'_ Ethan yelled, "Then I use my second card, Goddess Belldandy's Guardian. I have to guess your top card, if I'm correct, then you must summon it to the Field face-down. The top card is…" Ethan quivered, "Knight of Camelot – King Arthur."

Alexander smirked as he drew, "Ah, so you seen this card. Oh dear, I must have forgotten to take it out." There was a chilly aura around him, "Pity." He placed it horizontally on his Duel Disk.

Ethan continued his Standby phase, "Then I activate my Goddess Urd's Altar. If I guess one of your face-down correctly, I can remove it from the game! That face-down card is Knight of Camelot – King Arthur!" Alexander's facedown card was removed, _'What does he mean by pity. If I recall correctly, there are thirteen Knights of Camelot, does that mean he never use his true strength?'_ He continued his turn, "I ordered Valkyrie Vietre to destroy your Knight of Swift Gale!" He thought to himself, _'Either way, I will beat him!'  
_  
The Valkyrie Angel's horse galloped across the field and the angel suddenly stabbed her blue rapier through the knight's chest, destroying him.

Ethan: 1900. Alexander: 4000 – 100 = 3900.

"Because I destroyed your monster as result of battle, I can activate one of my Valkyrie Vietre's effects. Remove the top card of your deck!" Alexander removed Queen's Knight from his deck and Ethan placed one face-down card on the field, "I put one face-down card and then I play Gryphon's Feather Duster!" [**S7**] A magic card materialized on the field with picture of a brown feather blowing away cards. A tornado burst out of the magic card and destroyed his four M/T cards, "Because I destroy 4 M/T cards, I gained 2000 Life Points!"

Ethan: 1900 + 2000 = 3900. Alexander: 3900.

"Not only that. One of the cards destroyed was Apple of Freya!" [**T6**] The trap card flipped and revealed a tiny robed angel with ominous purple background, "When this card is removed from the field, I can draw a card!" He drew a card, "I end my turn."

Alexander drew two, "I discard King's Knight!" [**M10 (4/1600/1400)**] He discarded his monster card into the Graveyard, "I decided not to bring Little Knight back to my hand and I sacrifice my Knight of Burning Rage to summon Gaia the Swift Knight!" [**M11 (5/2200/1800)**] A fully armored knight came to the field dressed in blue armor with red linens all over his body. He contained a red lance spear in his hand but he was not mounted, "Gaia the Swift Knight, destroy Valkyrie Vietre!" Gaia ran across the field and stabbed his red spear through the horse and the angel, causing both creatures to dissolve into smithereens, "I end my turn."

Ethan: 3900 – 500 = 3400. Alexander: 3900.

"Draw!" Ethan smirked, _'He can't do anything without any cards in his Hand.'_ He grabbed a magic card from his hand, "I played Maiden of Swan!" [**S8**] A magic card appeared, revealing a picture of a beautiful robed lady with a swan soaring, "This magic card allows me to special summon a monster with Valkyrie in its name and I special summon Freya – Queen of Valkyries!" [**M12 (9/2800/3200)**] Suddenly a snow white Pegasus was soaring from the sky, carrying a noble woman dressed in a beautiful white robe with green linen decorations all over. She possessed a crown with golden wings on the sides. She held a giant white staff with golden tip that contained a blue orb.

Ethan ordered, "Freya, destroy Gaia the Swift Knight!" The queen held her staff high as the orb charged to maximum power. The orb glowed white and she pointed her staff toward Gaia and fired a powerful white beam that completely consumed his Gaia the Swift Knight and the beam continued its path toward Alexander, destroying his Life Points, "I end my turn."

Alexander smiled, "This card will give the finishing blow."

"Huh?" Ethan questioned.

"Since you sent my Gaia the Swift Knight to the Graveyard, I can add Gaia the Fierce Dragon Knight [**M13 (8/2900/2700)**] to my hand." Alexander explained as he showed his new card to Ethan, "This is the card."

Ethan: 3400. Alexander: 3900 – 600 = 3300.

Alexander tried to make a conversation again, "You have an older brother named Darren, right?"

Ethan frowned, "…of course."

Alexander smiled, "I see now…I heard that he was close friend with Siegfried until they break out..." He smirked, "You helped Leroy…just to challenge me officially…Are you trying to take revenge on my family?"

Ethan was silent for awhile. He answered, "You could say that…"

Alexander stopped smiling as he became serious, "Care to tell me more? I can't really see it as some sort of revenge for your older brother because ever since my dear cousin, Siegfried is now a member of Industrial Illusions, he made up with Darren. Although, to be honest, I don't know the details why they stopped being friends in the first place."

"You wanna know why?" Ethan gritted his teeth, "Couple of years ago, Darren and Siegfried worked together to make a Solid System program. Darren was really proud of it until Siegfried betrayed him. He stole all his research and plans and then tried to sell it before Pegasus."

Alexander continued, "But he failed to show it to Pegasus because Kaiba arrived first, crushing Siegfried's hopes and led him to personal grudge against the Kaiba in the KC Grand Prix. But everything's resolved now between Siegfried and Darren."

Ethan affirmed, "I already knew that…Darren may forgive him…and I honestly don't really care…but when I heard you're accepted into South Duel Academy this year…the flames of hatred rekindled inside of me…it was small but it was enough of a spark to make me want to duel you. I'm just curious…curious to see why your family is so great? Why are they such powerful duelists? I just want to see that strength…but lately…you just have been relying on luck to make sure that I won't predict your strategy…Are you so skillful to win the game on pure luck?"

Alexander chuckled and then he laughed loudly.

Ethan narrowed his eyes, "What's so funny?"

Alexander smiled, "Nothing…it's just refreshing to see a honest truth coming from you. You want to test the skill of Von Schroeder? I'm sorry to say…but you need to be the King of Duelists or close to it to beat my family name. I have been relying on luck lately but I just have enough ingredients to defeat you." He drew one card, "I play this magic card, Soul Release." [**S9**] His magic card appeared on the field with the picture of a blue-skinned lady with rainbow colored hair and background, "I remove my Gaia the Swift Knight, Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight, Knight of Burning Rage, Knight of Swift Gale, and King's Knight from my Graveyard." His Duel Disk ejected five cards from the Graveyard, "Then I normal summon Gaia the Fierce Dragon Knight!" Gaia the Fierce Knight came to the field with two red spiral sabers and a new mount. His new mount contained the body and wings of the Curse of Dragon but colored purple. It also has four armored horse legs and blue helmet and greaves with red edges, "Because it's the only card in my hand and on the Field, I can normal summon it without sacrifices. Now Gaia, invade her majesty's throne!" The cavalier knight took flight and soared to the Queen. The knight stabbed her horse with his spear and stabbed the Queen with his second spear, shattering them into pieces.

"Freya!" Ethan growled.

Ethan: 3400 – 100 = 3300. Alexander: 3300.

"Because Gaia dealt battle damages to you, I can draw two cards but must discard one." Alexander drew his two cards and threw one card to the Graveyard, "I end my turn."

"Draw!" Ethan quickly draw his card and looked at his hand, _'This is the only thing I can do for now.'_ He snatched one card from his Hand, "I summon Valkyrie Funfte!" [**M14 (4/1600/1600)**] A Valkyrie appeared on the field, dressed in dark blue armor with her sky blue cape. She had long sleek raven black hair and possessed a sword and a shield like all other Valkyries. She also rode on a gray horse. Ethan used his last card in his Hand, "I play Valkyrie's Embrace!" [**S10**] His magic card had a picture of Bruhilde that had her arms open willing to embrace anyone, "I change my Valkyre Funfte to defense mode and remove your Gaia the Fierce Dragon Knight from the game!" Alexander's monster suddenly shattered, "I end my turn."

"Oh no, Alex lost all his monsters again!" Izumi was concerned.

Rebecca narrowed her eyes, "There's something about Von Schroeder I don't like. He's too calm and always smiling as he wanted to trick us and annoy us all."

Tsubaki and Izumi glanced at each other and spoke at the same time, "Yep, that's Alex."

Rad laughed casually, "I guess you guys knew about it so well because he did it all the time with you, huh?"

Tsubaki groaned, "You got that what…things he did….don't get us started with it…"

Izumi sighed exhaustingly, "And to think it's only 10 episodes…"

"Draw!" Alexander drew and he quickly played a magic card that showed an angel holding a glowing card in her hands, "I played Graceful Charity! I draw three cards and discard two." He drew three cards and instantly discarded two to the Graveyard. He had only two cards in his hand now. He smiled, "This will end now." He activated two magic cards, "I activate Proper Burial," [**S11**] His magic card revealed a picture of the cross tomb made out of wood with a flower wreath around it and field of flowers covered the graveyard, "And Valor's Revenge!" [**S12**] His second magic card revealing numerous knights in ghostly spirit form charging for battle, "Proper Burial returned all my Knight cards that were removed back to the Graveyard and my Valor's Revenge, one of my favorites, allow me to Special Summon Knights that were removed but came back to the grave. If you recall, you remove some of my Knights and I remove my Knights with my Soul Release."

Ethan's eyes widened in shock, "But I thought you only play that card, so you can summon your Gaia the Fierce Dragon Knight." He questioned.

Alexander smiled with his eyes closed, "Well, that too." Suddenly Gaia the Fierce Dragon Knight came back to the Field, "I special summon Gaia the Swift Knight, Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight, Knight of Swift Gale, and Knight of Burning Rage." Suddenly all four knights appeared on the Field along with Gaia, "Allow me to attack." Alexander opened his eyes, "Gaia the Swift Knight, destroy his Valkyrie Funfte!" Gaia ran across the field and stabbed his spear through Valkyrie Funfte, "Now Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight, attack him directly!" Gaia's purple horse galloped across the field and Gaia skewered Ethan with his spear.

Ethan: 3300 – 2300 = 1000. Alexander: 3300.

"Now Gaia the Fierce Dragon Knight, finish him off with Soaring Saber!" Alexander declared as the dragon flapped his wings as he took flight to the stadium and suddenly dived toward Ethan. Gaia's double spears glowed brightly and he pierced his spears through Ethan.

Ethan: 1000 – 2900 = 0. Alexander: 3300.

Ethan sighed, "I lost. I guess holding a petty grudge doesn't really solve anything…but you're a frightening duelist…willing to abandon total strategy just for luck? Not even I would do that."

"Heh, I just want to follow Yuki's example of relying on luck. It's quite thrilling," Alexander offered his hand, "It was a very good duel."

Ethan shook his hand, "Yeah, I'm glad that I duel with you."

The audience suddenly cheered after watching a long duel.

Izumi cheered, "You did it, Alex!"

Tsubaki yelled, "You're awesome, man!"

Rad jumped on Tsubaki, "That was wicked!"

Lisa bragged, "Well of course. It's expected of Lord Von Schroeder to win. Right, Vanessa?"

Vanessa nodded many times.

Shizuka clapped her hands, "That was interesting."

Rebecca clapped her hands, "I guess but I don't really like him."

Shizuka sweat-dropped and pointed out, "You just don't like him because his smile remind you of "Him."" She glanced at the Fisherman.

Rebecca's forehead vein twitched, "No kidding."

Izumi smiled happily, "That was a cool duel, don't you agree, Yuki?" She blinked in confusion, "Yuki?" Kurai had disappeared from his seat.

Kurai was walking down the dark hallway with the Duel Disk in his arm. His destination was the blindingly light of the stadium.

**TBC**

**

* * *

Izumi: **Alex's Knights were so cool! Especially when his trump card came from Gaia Knight series!

**Tsubaki: **Hah! Wait till you see my duel! My monsters are much cooler!

**Izumi: **Speaking of duel, Yuki's duel is next! I wonder what opponent he's going to be facing.

**Tsubaki: **Blah..he beat Obelisk Blue…an Osiris Red will just be a piece of cake to him.

**Izumi: **Tsubaki…you make it sound like Osiris Red are weak…thus you are calling us weak…

**Tsubaki**: Er…EH? YUKI IS GOING TO FACE AN OBELISK BLUE?

**Izumi: **EH, REALLY? **::she ran off:: **YUKI!

**Tsubaki sighed out of relief: **That was a nice lie.

**Next episode: Episode 11 – The Tyrants' Duel**

**Tsubaki: **It is a lie….right?...Ah crap.

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Duel – Gaia the Fierce Dragon Knight**

**Alexander: **A trump card of mine, huh? It's certainly a powerful card with strength comparable to the fusion of Gaia the Fierce Knight and Curse of Dragon along with trampling skills and the effect of Spiral Shaver. Also not to mention, it has a very useful summoning effect when in drastic measures.

**Izumi: **Wow, that sounds really great! You could say it's the updated version of Gaia the Dragon Champion.

**Alexander chuckled: **That's true. Too bad Yugi doesn't use that anymore in the Advanced Deck.

**Izumi: **By the way…that's not your true trump card, is it?

**Alexander:**...whatever do you mean by that, Izumi?

**Izumi: **Well, I heard from Ethan about King Art…

**Alexander: **Izumi, you heard nothing.

**Izumi: **But…

**Alexander smiled with a dark scary aura: **Nothing, Izumi.

**Izumi paled: **….um okay….I heard nothing.

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Valkyrie Vierte: Light/Angel/4/1700/1400**: Effect: When this card destroys one of your opponent's monster(s) you may choice one of the following effects:  
• Draw one card from your deck.  
• Remove one card from the top of your opponents' deck.  
• Randomly remove one card from the game in your opponents' hand.

**M2 - ****Blade Knight: Light/Warrior/4/1600/1000**: Effect: If you have 1 or fewer cards in your hand, increase this Monster's attack strength by 400. Also, if this is the only Monster you control, negate the Reverse Effects of Monsters that this one destroys during Battle.

**M3 - ****Little Knight: Earth/Warrior/2/500/400**: During your Standby Phase, when this card is in the Graveyard, you may bring it back to your Hand.

**M4 - ****Valkyrie Zwei: Light/Angel/5/1600/1600**: Effect: When this card is summoned normally, summoned reversely or summoned specially, it can destroy a monster on the opponent's field.

**M5 - ****Valkyrie Erste: Light/Angel/6/1600/1800**: Effect: Only in this turn until the end phase, when an opponent's monster is sent to graveyard and removed from the game, this monster can consume the same attack points as that of the removed monster.

**M6 - ****Knight of Burning Rage: Fire/Warrior/4/1900/1400**: Effect: Discard a number of cards you choose and do 300 damages for each card that was discarded.

**M7 - ****Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight: Dark/Warrior/7/2300/2100**: Effect: If this card is the only card in your hand, you may summon it in attack mode without sacrificing monsters. This counts as a Normal Summon.

**M8 - ****Knight of Swift Gale: Wind/Warrior/4/1600/1500**: Effect: Discard one card and this monster can battle twice.

**M9 - ****Maiden of Valkyrie: Light/Angel/2/400/500**: Effect: When you have no monsters on your side of the field and you are being attacked while this card is in the graveyard you may remove it from the game to special summon one monster with "Valkyrie" in its name from your Graveyard.

**M10 - ****King's Knight: Light/Warrior/4/1600/1400**: Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned while you have a face-up "Queen's Knight" on your side of the Field, you can Special Summon 1 "Jack's Knight" from your Deck to the Field.

**M11 - ****Gaia the Swift Knight: Earth/Warrior/5/2200/1800**: Effect: If this card is sent to the Graveyard as the result of battle, you may add [Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight] or [Gaia the Fierce Dragon Knight] to your Hand from your Deck or Graveyard.

**M12 - ****Freya – Queen of Valkyries: Light/Angel/9/2800/3200**: Effect: While this card is on the field no other monster with "Valkyrie" in its name can be an attack target. While on the field while "Kingdom of Valkryie's" is on the field you may increase monsters with "Valkyrie" in there name by an extra 200 attack and defense points.

**M13 - ****Gaia the Fierce Dragon Knight: Wind/Warrior/8/2900/2700**: Effect: When this is the only card in your hand and there's no cards on your field. You may summon this card without sacrifices. This counts as Normal Summon. If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, if the ATK of that card is higher than the DEF of the Defense Position monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. If this card inflicts Battle Damage with this effect, draw 2 cards from your Deck and discard 1 card from your hand.

**M14 - ****Valkyrie Funfte: Light/Angel/4/1600/1600**: When this card is summoned you may declare a type of monster and then remove this monster and 1 monster of the same type on your opponents' side of the field from the game.

**T1 - ****Hidden Ambush - Trap**: Every monster with the word [Knight] in its name with a lower attack strength than the opponent's monster's highest attack strength on the field can attack the opponent directly.

**T2 - ****Knight's Necessities – Trap**: Activate this card during Battle Phase only. Discard the number of cards of your choice to the Graveyard. For each card that was discarded this way, increase a monster with [Knight] in its name's ATK by 400. Continue battle and then calculate damage.

**T3 - ****Judgment of Buodan – Trap**: This card can be activated when the opponent's monster attacks. Choose a magic card on hand and switch it to the top card on the deck. Then shuffle the deck. The attack of the opponent's monster is invalid. The opponent's battle phase is ended once.

**T4 - ****Faith's Protection – Trap**: Discard a monster card with [Knight] in its name and negate all damages this turn.

**T5 - ****Mediation of Flicker – Trap**: Remove Judgment of Buodan in a graveyard form the game, the attack of the opponent is invalid.

**T6 - ****Apple of Freya – Trap**: This card can be activated when removed from the field. Draw a card from the deck.

**S1 - ****Ride of the Valkyries – Normal Spell**: Activate this card and special summon all Valkyries in a player's Hand. The monsters destroyed from the Valkyries are removed from the game. after this turn return all special summoned Valkyries back to the owner's deck and then shuffle.

**S2 - ****Treasure of Nibelung – Normal Spell**:  
- When the opponent has a monster on his field, this card can be activated.  
- The player can activate Nibelung Ring from his deck and equip it with the opponent's monster.  
- The player draws additional 5 cards.

**S3 - ****Nibelung Ring – Equipment Spell:  
**- The monster equipped with this card can't receive any order from its player.  
- In drawing phase of the player, who owns the equipped monster, he can instead draw 2 cards. If he gets one or two monster cards, he has to discard one of monster cards into his Graveyard.

**S4 - ****Goddess Skuld's Oracle – Continuous Spell**: In the player's stand-by phase, the player can force the opponent to draw three cards from the top of his deck and then to show them up. After that, the player can choose which cards he would like the opponent to put them back to the top of the deck. However, the opponent can't see his cards.

**S5 - ****Goddess Belldandy's Guardian – Continuous Spell**: In the player's stand-by phase, the player has to guess a type of the top card on the opponent's deck (Monster/Magic/Trap). If he can guess correctly, that card is set up on the field. If the card is a monster card, it is set up in reverse position.

**S6 - ****Goddess Urd's Altar – Continuous Spell**: In the player's stand-by phase, the player has to guess the reversed card on the opponent's field. If he can guess correctly, he can remove that card from the game.

**S7 - ****Gryphon's Feather Duster – Normal Spell**: Destroy all spell and trap cards on your side of field. Increase your LP by the number of destroyed cards multiplied by 500 points.

**S8 - ****Maiden of Swan – Normal Spell**: Allow the player to summon a Valkyrie-type monster from his/her hand.

**S9 - ****Soul Release – Normal Spell**: Select up to five cards from either your or your opponent's Graveyard(s) and remove them from play.

**S10 - ****Valkyrie's Embrace – Normal Spell**: Changing a Valkyrie monster into a defense mode, the player can remove a monster of the opponent from the game.

**S11 - ****Proper Burial – Continuous Spell**: All of your monster cards with [Knight] in its name that were removed from the game are to be put in your Graveyard.

**S12 - ****Valor's Revenge – Continuous Spell**: Monster(s) with [Knight] within its name that are removed from the game and sent back to the Graveyard can be special summon to the Field.


	20. 11A: The Tyrants' Duel

**Author's note: **This is very short chapter. Probably the shortest chapter I ever wrote. I dislike the length but you know the Duel chapter will be longer than this lol. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter because after this, things will start picking up a little. I also want to point out that we're still on GX episode 12 because since…Alexander's duel with Ethan is right before this, so we're still on the same day. It would be weird just to switch to another episode and insert a snippet of it lol. That means that the next chapter with different timeline, I would skip few GX episodes into the right one that correspond to my current chapter's timeline which is a good thing anyway since I doubt anyone want to read a snippet from SAL Monkey episode.

**Author's random note: **I now love watching Gundam 00. If you're a fan of Gundam Wing, watch it. Watch it now. Lol. I didn't get to watch the subs when it first came out because I was utterly disappointed with Gundam Seed Destiny, so I was afraid Gundam 00 might be bad but boy I was seriously wrong. I love Gundam Seed but Destiny just ruined my love for it.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX. Credit goes to GLL99 for subs of GX 12.

**

* * *

Episode 11: The Tyrants' Duel  
**  
Suddenly a triple jet of prism flames struck a teenage boy's chest and sent him flying across the area.

Shizuka and Rebecca gasped.

It seemed like ages for the teenage boy to fall.

Lisa and Vanessa gasped.

His body was inching toward the ground slowly.

Alexander's eyes widened slightly in shock and the Fisherman slowly opened his eyes, revealing his eye color.

Cards were flying from his Duel disk on his arm, each of them falling slower than him.

Tsubaki just stared in great shock while Rad was not grinning as he normally do.

The teenage boy slowly crashed to the ground with dust waves coming from the impact and the cards slowly landed afterward.

Izumi's eyes were quivering with concern and she shouted, "YUKIIIIIIIIII!" She yelled the fallen boy's name and everything flashed blindingly white.

"Didn't know what happened? Thought you miss the episode?" The narrator asked while smirking, "Well you didn't miss anything at all. Allow me to show you what happened an hour ago." He snapped his fingers.

* * *

Izumi yelled in surprise, "Ahhhhhhhh! Yuki is gone!"

Lisa finally noticed his disappearance, "What? Lord Yuki is gone? And I planned all this just to have my private romantic moment with him!" Rivers of tears were streaming from her eyes.

Vanessa just patted Lisa's back while sweat-dropping.

Lisa gritted her teeth and pointed accursedly at Izumi, "You! You sent him away with your evil witchcraft, poor city girl!"

"Will you stop accusing me of Witchcraft?" Izumi snapped with red angry demonic eyes and sharp teeth, "Just because I like using Magical Girls deck doesn't mean I can't use magic!"

Lisa accused Izumi, "You must have turned him into a frog!" She suddenly clasped her hands and closed her eyes with pink sparkling background behind her, "which he awaits a kiss from a beautiful princess, so he would turn into handsome prince!" She swooned as the picture of Kurai smiling with a glint in his teeth.

Vanessa had a sweat droplet as she held the picture up.

Tsubaki just ripped it apart and shuddered, "I don't want to see him smile! I get the shivers imagining him smiling like an idiot!"

Rad laughed, "What's wrong with smiling? If you're feeling happy or have lot of fun, you should be smiling."

Tsubaki sighed annoyingly, "There's nothing wrong with smiling but after living with a cold-hearted stiff bastard. I can't…I really can't imagine him with a smile…especially a creepy bright white commercial smile…"

"You mean like this?" Rad suddenly turned around with a shining smile and a glint in his pure white teeth.

"Don't do that, you happy freak!" Tsubaki roared at Rad.

"I'm going to go look for him." Izumi left her seat.

"Hurry back!" Tsubaki yelled at her, "The next duel is going to start!"

"Hai!" Izumi waved her hand and she ran off.

"Who's the next duelist?" Shizuka asked Rebecca.

Rebecca was silent as she crossed her arms.

"Rebecca-san?" Shizuka asked again.

"The next duel will be the Dynast's duel." Rebecca finally answered with tone of great importance.

Shizuka's eyes widened as she whispered, "The Dynast…"

"The Dynast?" Tsubaki asked as he stopped pulling Rad's light violet hair, "You mean the most powerful Duelist of the South Duel Academy?"

Rad gasped in excitement, "The Dynast's duel is next? Alright! I can't wait to see what kind of deck he has!"

Tsubaki let go of Rad's hair, "Have you even seen this Dynast guy?"

Rad nodded, "Of course, I did!" He smirked, "He's a very groovy guy that dressed up like a King of Disco!"

Tsubaki gaped, "Ehhh seriously?" He shivered as he imagined disturbing nightmares about a duelist with a huge afro and shaking his groove in his fancy shining tuxedo, "I just have nightmares."

Rebecca smacked both of them with a paper haisen, "You're both wrong!"

Fisherman smiled and explained with closed eyes and goofy grin, "Dynast is actually Rebecca's cool older brother!"

Rebecca sent the Fisherman flying with her haisen, making the Fisherman a ting in the sky, "He's not my brother!"

Lisa explained in a smug tone, "Dynast Hiroshi is nothing like that. He's a dignified gentleman, not a king of groove. He's pure Japanese blooded without any relations to Instructor Rebecca's American blood. But that didn't really matter because his skills are unparalleled. Of course, it is expected of Hiroshi who actually came from the famous Cyber-style dojo deep in the range near Mt. Fuji."

Tsubaki asked, "The Cyber-style dojo?"

Vanessa supported Lisa's claim, "The same dojo where Kaiser Ryo trained before he joined the Duel Academia!"

Tsubaki whistled, "Wow that must be some amazing dojo."

Rad spoke excitedly, "I wonder what kind of trainings they have? Did they climb mountains barehanded? Did they mediate in the snow without clothes? Did they fight polar bears with cards?"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Who in the right mind would do all that crazy training?"

"Excellent answer, Lisa and Vanessa, you really know your studies." Rebecca complimented them.

Lisa smirked proudly, "Why thank you, Instructor."

Tsubaki just scoffed as he rolled his eyes and mumbled about something about spoiled rich brats. He asked Shizuka, "So what kind of deck is the Cyber deck?"

"Hmm," Shizuka touched her chin with her fingers, "I'm not really sure but I heard Kaiser Ryo used mechanical dragons and there was another who used mechanical ogres, so I can only assume that Hiroshi might be using mechanical versions of some mythical creatures."

"Mythical creatures, huh?" Tsubaki grinned, "Mechanical dragons, huh? As users of Gem Dragons, it would be so cool if I can see those dragons."

Rad laughed, "Ha, ha, ha. But you gotta be really good to transfer to Duel Academia which I doubt it because you can't beat me."

Tsubaki growled at Rad, "I'm not going to say it's a just a fluke but I will tell you that I will become stronger and I will beat you one day!"

Rad grinned, "Heh, I better become stronger too to make sure I won't lose to you."

Rebecca stared at Rad as she wanted to say something serious. She knew something but she quickly decided not to because everyone was here to watch the duel, not to get lectured.

* * *

Izumi walked out of the stadium and glanced around the area, searching for Yuki. She pondered to herself, "Where could Yuki be?"

"Izumi?" A calm voice spoke her name.

Izumi turned around and saw Alexander. She smiled, "Alex! That was a great match!"

Alexander smiled with his eyes closed, "Thank you, Izumi. It was a difficult match."

"But you still win anyway!" Izumi smirked as she gave him thumbs up, "That duelist had no chance of winning against you!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" An Obelisk Blue student's glasses glinted evilly.

Izumi blinked and she noticed another person behind Alexander. She gaped in shock, "Eh? Ethan?"

Alexander smiled, "It seemed you already knew his name. We became acquainted with each other right after the duel."

Ethan narrowed his knowing eyes and stared at Izumi as he was analyzing every inch of her soul.

A sweat droplet formed on Izumi's head and she interrupted, "Hello?"

Ethan's eyes glinted, "Izumi Kitamori, Full Japanese. Your family moved to New York while your older sister stays in Japan. Your older sister is already an Elite Duelist in one month after picking up Duel Monsters."

Izumi was stunned and gaped, "How do you know all that?"

Ethan continued on, "Personality: Stubborn, tomboyish, can be a bit hot headed."

Izumi's forehead vein twitched, "What's that supposed to mean?" She frowned with her hands on her hips.

Ethan continued rambling, "Deck: Unknown. Official Duels: Zero. But possibility that her deck is Magical Girl related after that duel with Jounouchi Shizuka and Wolx."

Izumi blinked in surprise and pouted, "Okay, this guy knows way too much about me."

Alexander chuckled, "Ethan loves to research duelists. You could say he's the number one source of information on duelists."

"More like a stalker." Izumi rolled her eyes and then finally absorbed what Alexander meant, "Do you know where Yuki went?"

"The last data I have on Yuki Kurai," Ethan answered, "was that he was seemed heading for the stages of the Dueling Stadium."

"Eh?" Izumi exclaimed, "Why would he be there if it's Obelisk Blue's turn to duel?"

"Judging from his attitude," Ethan calculated, "he's probably challenging strong Obelisk Blue duelists."

"…Well that does sound like him." Izumi had a sweat droplet on the back of her head, "Thanks for the info!" She rushed off.

* * *

Meanwhile at the island of Duel Academia, Judai, Misawa, and Sho were rushing to the Dueling Arena for Misawa's duel with Manjoume. As they hastily arrived at the arena, they saw Manjoume and Chronos waiting for them.

Chronos chided, "You're late-no ne, Signore Misawa."

Manjoume taunted, "I thought you already ran away with your tails between your legs."

Judai was surprised to see Manjoume, "T-then, the guy Misawa's facing to change his dorm…" He connected the pieces and realized, "I see! You're the one who threw away Misawa's cards, aren't you?"

Chronos was stunned at this accusation, "What did you say?"

Manjoume glared as he was offended by Judai's slander, "What are you falsely accusing me of, Judai? Why would I…?"

"I wonder if it's really a false accusation." A female voice interrupted Manjoume.

Both Judai and Sho looked back at the owner of the voice and gasped. Sho spoke her name, "Asuka!"

Judai was surprised to see another visitor, "Kaiser Ryo!"

"I happened to see it." Asuka stated, "I saw you, Manjoume-kun, tossing his cards into the shore." She quickly had a flashback to this foggy morning when she was standing on a hill and saw Manjoume tossing the cards into the ocean before he ran off.

Judai and Sho gaped, "Eh!" Misawa just stared as he absorbed this sudden revelation.

Chronos narrowed his eyes while Manjoume just growled as he didn't like how things were going.

Asuka continued, "And since I was curious, I came here to find out why."

Judai turned back to Manjoume and yelled, "That's a dirty move, Manjoume. You really did do it!"

"Shut it." Manjoume decided to bluff his way out, "I threw away some of my own cards. Or was there a name or something written on those cards?"

"Manjoume!" Judai couldn't believe that Manjoume decided to continue denying the truth.

Manjoume just looked away, "You're going to take responsibility for accusing me of being a thief." He smirked as he took this chance to increase the bet, "What would you say to the loser of this duel getting expelled?"

Judai clenched his fists, "That's totally unreasonable. Now that Misawa's deck lost some of its key cards, it's…"

"No, I'll accept the duel." Misawa finally interjected. He now knew the truth about his cards and was furious at Manjoume for not admitting his guilt, "I have a deck, and I will accept these conditions!"

Judai and Sho turned their head away from Manjoume to Misawa as they were shocked. Judai shouted, "Misawa!"

"Sorry, I made you worry, Judai." Misawa apologized, "The deck that was tossed away was a mish-mash deck for tweaking." He unbuttoned his Ra Yellow uniform jacket, "My real deck…" He opened his jacket to reveal six decks strapped to his vest jacket around his body, "is right here! Behold the six decks packed with my blood and soul! Kaze – As swift as the wind! Mizu – as quiet as the water! Hi – as aggressive as the fire! Chi – As sedentary as the earth! Yami – Through the evil darkness, the light (Hikari) will shine!"

It was Manjoume's turn to be surprised, "S-six decks, is it?" He quickly composed himself and took out his deck, "Allow me to take those gaudy bluffs of yours and char them into cinders with these flames of malice of mine!"

"Heh, that settles it. The deck that will defeat you…" Misawa grabbed one of the six decks, "is this one!" He inserted it into the duel disk, "Set up!" He declared, "You'll soon learn whether this deck is for show or not, Manjoume!"

Manjoume shouted back, "Bring it, Misawa!"

* * *

Inside the dark hallway toward the battle stages, Kurai just wrapped the Duel Disk around his arm and inserted his prized deck. Kurai let go of his deck and closed his eyes as he remembered an hour ago.

* * *

"What?" Kurai crossed his arms and spoke rudely.

Zenobia chuckled, "You never learn any manners, do you, boy? I can only imagine how Carol feels when she deals with you." She chuckled amusingly as she imagined Morgan's rage with Kurai's cold attitude.

Kurai rolled his eyes as he was feeling impatient. He didn't have time to waste with stupid adults.

Zenobia sensed Kurai's impatience in his gestures. She smiled, "No manners and no patience, your mother doesn't raise you well?"

Kurai narrowed his eyes coldly, "Leave my mother out of this, hag."

Zenobia chuckled, "Well, well, at least you have respect for your parent. Too bad, you don't display that respect for other adults. But…" She smirked, "I don't mind the disrespect because I greatly admired your dueling talent."

Kurai's cold glare softened a little as he liked the praise but his gaze was still freezing cold.

"Morgan is a fool if she only sees your cold exterior, Kurai." Zenobia smiled seductively, "But I'm no fool. I can see the unlimited potential you have inside." She closed her eyes, "I heard of your circumstances and I must say how unfair it is for you to be in Osiris Red. That accursed woman…how could Carol put you in such a lowly place? Ah, maybe she's holding you back on purpose."

Kurai raised his eyebrow in suspicion.

Zenobia smirked, "It wouldn't surprise me if Carol is using your talent to get some spotlight on the low ranking dorm. Maybe she's using your talent to get a job promotion."

Kurai scoffed, "I don't give a damn about her, you, or anyone else in this institute. You have a proposal, get to the point or I'm leaving."

Zenobia's smirk became wider, "My…so bold and fast...a wonderful quality in an ideal man I'm searching for. I'm guessing that you already know about the Promotion Exam?"

"Yeah, so?" Kurai replied in bored tone.

"You're probably be bored dueling another Osiris Red," Zenobia pointed out.

Kurai didn't answer as he continued to stare coldly at Zenobia.

Zenobia flicked her long hair, "And I'm sure that you know by dueling another Osiris Red is not going to help you reach Ra Yellow or Obelisk Blue anytime soon."

Kurai glared intently as he didn't like what she was saying. He gave everything he got on the written test and he intent to plow his opponent out without any mercy. It should be good enough for him to get into Ra Yellow…right? Kurai started to feel doubt in his chances of getting promoted.

Zenobia smiled as she inched her face closer toward Kurai's face, "You knew it too, didn't you? Do you really think that rule stickler woman, Carol, will let you get promoted?"

Kurai gritted his teeth, "What do I have to do?"

Zenobia smirked, "For starters, I'm going to set you up with a duel with an Obelisk Blue."

Kurai scoffed, "Been there, done that." He remembered his duel with Hyun-Ki unless he would duel him again and this time, he would be the real victor. He also remembered his duel with Leroy Eagles, the supposedly number one student of First Year Obelisk Blue.

Zenobia giggled, "Oh no, this duel is different from what you have. This one comes with a catch."

"A catch?" Kurai asked.

"A bet, you could say." Zenobia smirked, "A bet to promote your rank to the highest."

That caught Kurai's interest and he asked, "Go on."

"If you win this duel, you'll be promoted to the Elite Obelisk Blue but if not," Zenobia swayed her head, "You will have to drop out."

Kurai looked at Zenobia suspiciously, "Why?"

Zenobia explained, "It's already against the rule for you to be dueling against an Obelisk Blue in Promotion exam, darling. So if you wish to prove yourself, you're going to have risk your standing here, Kurai." She chuckled.

The bet was a huge risk. If Kurai loses, he would have to drop out of the duel Academy but if he wins, he would be promoted to the Elites.

Kurai thought to himself, _'If I get promoted, then I would be closer to him.'_ He clenched his fists, "Fine, I accept the bet."

Zenobia clasped her hands, "Wonderful. Please pack up your bags and I hope to see you in our dorms, Kurai…if not…at the very least, you'll be already packed." She chuckled as she walked away.

* * *

Kurai opened his eyes as he finished remembering his past. He grabbed a picture out of his pocket and drilling it with extreme hatred in his eyes, "Someday." He quickly put his picture away and headed toward the light and the cheering noises.

* * *

"Yuki!" Izumi entered the dark hallway and she quickly glanced around searching for the familiar Osiris Red student, "He's not here….." Izumi gasped, "Could he be….?" She headed toward the light.

Kurai appeared out of the hallway and showed himself to the entire stadium. The audience gasped.

Tsubaki blinked and he blinked again. He blinked again and again until his jawbone dropped to the floor and shouted, "YUKI?"

Shizuka gasped, "The Dynast's opponent is him?"

"Hey, this isn't allowed! We have to stop this!" Rebecca was about to stand up but the Fisherman caught her arm.

The Fisherman smiled, "You're off duty, remember?"

"But…" Rebecca whined.

"This will be very interesting." Fisherman's closed eyes glinted.

"I agree." An Obelisk Blue student came up to their seats.

"Lord Von Schroeder!" Lisa spoke his name lovingly with hearts coming out of her eyes.

"Alex?" Tsubaki yelled, "Do you knew about this?"

"Of course not, I'm surprised as you." Alexander smiled and then he noticed Rebecca, "Hello there."

Rebecca narrowed her eyes and looked away, "Hmph."

"…..how rude." Alexander chuckled.

Kurai walked up the small ramp into the dueling stage where he saw an Obelisk student waiting for him with his arms crossed and a Duel Disk attached. He had black hair with sharp bangs combed all the way to the back. He had athletic body, showing that he would do well in any sports. His eyes expressed seriousness with a hint of childish excitement.

He introduced himself, "I'm Nishimura Hiroshi."

"Yuki Kurai." Kurai replied.

No more words were expressed between each other because they knew what they were here for. Their language was spoken in actions, not words or feelings. Both duelists stared at each other's eyes, the windows of their very souls.

Both Duel Disks activated at the same time and they yelled at the same time, "DUEL!"

**PART A END**

Well that was a short chapter. But the fated duel between the Dynast and Kurai has begins! Give some feedback!


	21. 11B: The Tyrants' Duel

**Author's Note: **I realized that I made a mistake in this episode. And I made the same mistake in Episode 4 with the Chinese Zombies. I used Fusion Recovery to bring back Polymerization and a Fusion Material monster that wasn't used in Fusion even though it is a Fusion Material. Realizing this mistake, I decided to create a similar card but only for E-Mercenaries and I wrote the same change in Episode 4 just yesterday. Now, the main event. I hope you guys like the new cards even though there will be cards with similar effects to certain Cyber Dragons but hey, it is the Cyber Style cards after all. I like to thank DestinyDeck, DTechnoKira, and Lonely Ghost for reading. Also thanks to Lux-Zero for his tremendous help. You guys rock and here's bunch of fresh-batch cookies for you.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! And credit goes to GLL99 for subs of GX 12. (Yes, we're still in the timeline of that episode.) I'm probably not going to add snippet of episode 12 anymore until we moved on to the next day which will be…couple of episodes later here. I don't really want to add dueling parts when you could watch it.

**

* * *

Episode 11: Part B!  
**  
It was picture of Hiroshi the Dynast along with a new machine that bore a striking resemblance to a black dog behind his back. Its entire four-legged body was covered with black metallic plates with an ominous purple glow in the joints. It also had frightening red plated eyes and yellow sharp fangs. It is a duel monster called Cyber Hell Hound. And of course the official logo on the bottom right corner.

Kurai just stared at it, "..."

The narrator grinned proudly, "This time, it's the DYNAST, what do you think?"

Kurai was just silent for a long while.

The narrator had numerous sweat droplets forming around his head, feeling very uncomfortable with this eerie silence. He broke the silence, "Kurai?"

Suddenly Kurai held the narrator in a chokehold with scary eyes that seemed to be the only thing glowing in the dark shadowy realm that took over the entire story.

The narrator screamed, "!" Tears were streaming out of his eyes.

"I still haven't forgiven you for that introduction," Kurai spoke demonically as poisonous clouds were coming out of his mouth.

The narrator blinked and pointed out, "You mean the part where you fell after your loss?"

Kurai suddenly looked scarier than possible.

The narrator just turned ghostly white with white huge blank eyes and gaping mouth, "AHHHHHHHHHH!" His painful scream was heard out throughout the entire realm, "GET ON WITH THE EPISODE BEFORE I LOSE MY PITIFUL LIFE!"

* * *

Izumi was running through the dark hallway, filled with concern rushing through her able body. She saw the light and sprinted forward. She covered her eyes as she tried to accustom to the blinding lights and the roaring audience. Once her eyes finally adjusted to the light, she saw two duelists at the stage. She quickly recognized one of them and yelled his name, "YUKI!"

Kurai heard his name and moved his head toward the noise. He mumbled sarcastically, "Great."

Izumi frowned and shouted, "YUKI KURAI, What are you doing? You're not supposed to be dueling against an Obelisk Blue! That's not allowed, you know!"

Hiroshi chuckled, "Who's she? Your girlfriend?"

Kurai glared at Hiroshi, "Hell no." He averted his cold eyes toward Izumi, "Leave me alone."

"I won't!" Izumi pouted, "What would the Professor say about this?"

"This professor allowed it, Izumi Kitamori." A sultry voice spoke as it sent shivers to Izumi's bones.

Izumi glanced back and saw the female professor dressed in blue uniform that was clearly too tight for her assets standing behind her, "Professor Zenobia!" She demanded, "What do you mean you allowed it?"

"I allowed it," Zenobia smirked, "because Kurai Yuki wanted this."

"Yuki wants this?" Izumi asked and she faced the dueling stage and her eyes were in direct contact with Yuki's amber eyes.

Kurai scoffed as he looked away, "Let's just get started!" He drew his five cards.

Hiroshi smiled slightly, "You should show some respect for girls especially when you have someone who's deeply concerned for you."

Kurai rolled his eyes and scorned, "Are you here to waste my time or are you here to fight?"

Hiroshi smirked, "So impatient. I can decline this duel right now for that disrespect but since you're only first year, I'll let this slide."

Kurai just narrowed his eyes coldly as he didn't really give a damn. The only thing in his mind was the overwhelming desire to beat the strongest duelist of the Academy to get closer to his goal.

"No response, eh? I'll go first. Draw!" Hiroshi drew his card, "I discard Cyber Hell Hound [**M1 (5/2000/1700)] **to activate its effect!" He revealed his effect monster card with a picture of a scary black mechanical dog with red glowing eyes and placed it in the Graveyard slot, "I can add two Cyber Hell Hounds from my deck to my hand." He grabbed two cards from his deck and then shuffled it afterward.

Shizuka's eyes widened as she recognized something, "That effect…it felt familiar to me."

"It has the same effect as Thunder Dragon," Rebecca mentioned, "You probably recognize it because Kaiba use it sometimes in his duel and then use Polymerization to create Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon."

"Eh?" Tsubaki exclaimed, "Does that mean the Dynast is going to use Polymerization to fuse two um…"

Rad added, "Cyber Hell Hounds!"

"Thanks," Tsubaki thanked and then looked back to Rebecca, "That's pretty awesome!"

Rebecca confirmed, "It is the possibility that Hiroshi will do that but that's not the true danger of Cyber Hell Hound."

Rad whistled, "It sounds really cool, now I'm super excited to see it!"

"I summon Dawn Cyber Keelut!" [**M2 (4/1500/1300)**] The monster slot of his Field glowed brightly as a mechanical puppy rose from the ground and jumped around on the field. It was bare as it has wires and parts that gave a digital blue glow showing all over. Its body was covered worn-out white plate armor. Its small wagging tail and feet were covered by cool grey plates. Its head was also cool grey plated with sharp pointed ears and yellow eyes. It wasn't fearsome as Cyber Hell Hound but it was good enough. Hiroshi snatched two cards from his Hand and quickly placed them, "Then I set two face-down cards and I'm done."

"Awww," Rad pouted, "I guess he didn't have Polymerization."

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "You can't really expect the Dynast to have it right away like Yuki did…I don't know…but I guess he's just extremely lucky."

"Draw!" Kurai declared as he drew his card. He glanced at his hand and grabbed one card, "I played a Magic card, Polymerization!" [**S1**]

Tsubaki sighed as he knew that was going to happened, "What did I tell you? Yuki just got Polymerization right away. That cold-hearted stiff bastard got the luck of a devil."

The green card appeared on the Field, showing that Kurai was going to use it, "I will use it to fuse…"

"Not so fast," Hiroshi interrupted as he pressed the button on his Duel Disk, "I counter your Polymerization with my face-down card, Magic Jammer!" [**T1**]

Tsubaki was surprised, "Eh?"

Rad commented, "Wow, he already stopped his fusion! Nice counter!"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped as this felt familiar to the other duel, "How come it's Obelisk Blues that get to stop his Fusion right away?" He remembered Leroy stopped Kurai's fusion with Brutal Landmine trap card.

Hiroshi complimented, "An old card but always effective." His face-down card went erect and revealed an image of red circular symbol with glowing green border around it, releasing purple steam, "By discarding one card, I can negate your Polymerization!" He shouted as his trap card released purple acidic smoke that melted Kurai's Magic card into pieces. Hiroshi quickly discarded a card into the Graveyard, "I heard about your famous duels around here and about your deadly fusions. So I thought I should save all my spell negating cards for your fusions and I was right." He smirked slightly.

Izumi was watching the duel from the sidelines. She muttered, "Yuki," She thought to herself, _'His best card is gone, what can he do now?'_

* * *

"Who the hell authorized this?" Morgan, female Osiris Red headmistress, was stomping down the hallway toward the dueling arena, "Who allow an Osiris Red to duel an Obelisk Blue during the Promotion Exam?"

Tyrell, Osiris Red headmaster, quickly followed her and at the same time, he wanted to stay away from her wrath, "Can't you calm down first, Carol?"

"Kurai Yuki…" Morgan said his name acidly, "That troublemaker continue to make havoc for me. He has no respect for teacher and no respect for the rules! He did something, I'm sure of it!"

Tyrell sighed as he knew that he couldn't appease her. He still followed her, "Come on, Carol, don't you think Principal allowed it?"

Morgan growled, "How would that man allow this?"

Tyrell answered, "Well, the duel obviously hasn't been stopped yet, so maybe the Principal approved it?"

Morgan yelled, "Impossible! I bet the Principal is not even watching the duel!" She got closer to the entrance of the dueling arena until she noticed a woman watching from the door.

Tyrell noticed the woman and called, "Anya?" He grabbed the closed-eye Ra Yellow occult professor's attention.

Mileah averted her head toward the two Osiris Red professors, "Professor Morgan. Professor Tyrell. Do you come to stop the duel?"

"Of course, I am." Morgan stated.

Mileah swayed her head, "I can't let you do that. The Principal told me that he granted permission for this."

"What?" Morgan shrieked.

"Told you so." Tyrell claimed, earning another snarl from Morgan.

Mileah turned her head back to the arena, "I'm just the messenger. Plus…the spirits are frantic…"

Tyrell blinked, "Eh? You mean ghosts are watching the Dynast's duel?" He glanced around nervously as he couldn't handle outer worldly spirits.

Mileah replied, "Not like that…the spirits are roaming more than ever…..as if some great event will occur soon…"

Tyrell gulped, "Some great event?"

Mileah explained, "An event that could possibly influence the world…at least…that's what the spirits are telling me…"

Tyrell asked, "And what does that have to do with the Dynast's duel with that guy?"

Mileah narrowed her closed eyes, "All of them….said one thing…it starts here…it seems that they're telling me that this duel will create a chain of reactions that will lead to the great event…I'm here trying to figure out what that event is."

Morgan rolled her eyes in disbelief, "So basically you're saying in your own words, you're telling me to let this duel happen?"

"Whatever you choose to believe, Professor Morgan." Mileah continued observing.

Morgan crossed her arms. She wanted to stop this because this was against the rules but if the Principal allowed it, she had no choice to accept it, "Fine."

* * *

Kurai's eye twitched as he disliked that smirk but continued his turn, "I summon E-Merc Bolt Assassin!" [**M3 (4/1600/1000)**] The lightning struck the ground and revealed a pure lightning warrior that quickly gathered its metallic armor by using magnet, "Even if I can't fusion summon a strong monster, I can still destroys your pathetic machine. Bolt Assassin, destroy that pup with your Fatal Thunder!" The Bolt Assassin's arms glowed brightly, making a humming sound. He aimed his arms toward the metallic serpent and shot a shocking blue lightning that zapped across the Field.

Hiroshi remained smiling with his careless expression, "You just don't get it," He pressed the other button, "You really are reckless. I play my face-down card, Dharma Defense Module!" [**T2**] His trap card went up and showed a picture of an octagon-shaped computer chip with a yin-yang circle symbol in it. The chip was giving a blue holy glow that was dispelling away dark auras surrounding it, "To activate this trap card, I need to tribute a Cyber Hell Hound to special summon Cyber Fu Guardian."

Tsubaki was confused again, "Huh, if it required a Cyber Hell Hound, doesn't it have to be a Cyber Hell Hound?"

Rebecca smacked him with her haisen, "Just watch!"

"What a simple-minded man. He can't even understand monsters." Lisa scoffed.

"Back off!" Tsubaki glared at Lisa.

Kurai's narrow eyes questioned Hiroshi's action.

Hiroshi smirked and explained, "Allow me to explain. When Dawn Cyber Keelut is on the Field, I can discard a card to change its name to Cyber Hell Hound, thus allows my trap card to work." He discarded one card and the mechanical puppy suddenly gave a black vile glow but soon after, his trap card activated and shot a computer chip that attached to the robotic puppy, "Come forth Cyber Fu Guardian!" [**M4 (6/700/2900)**] The Dawn Cyber Keelut disappeared, allowing a much bigger beast to take over its place. Its thick body was big as a lion encased in silver plates with the head of a fearsome dog with golden thick metallic mane with thick spirals shape all over it. Its mechanical nails and its fluffy hair-like tail were golden too.

"Hmph, it still has a weaker ATK strength than my Bolt Assassin!" Kurai ordered, "Bolt Assassin, continue your assault!"

The Bolt Assassin shot its shocking lightning toward the Cyber Fu Guardian but Hiroshi smirked as suddenly the lightning was immediately reflected by a strong barrier created by the guardian lion.

Kurai narrowed his eyes.

Hiroshi explained, "My Cyber Fu Guardian has an effect. If it stays in face-up Attack mode, I can negate the attack of one of your monsters once per turn!"

Kurai gritted his teeth, "I place one card face-down and I'm finished." A M/T card materialized on the Field behind Bolt Assassin.

The audience cheered for the incredible counter set by the Dynast.

* * *

Meanwhile an Obelisk blue student with messy golden yellow hair and black headband was walking down the hallway and heard the loud cheers from the Dueling Stadium. He glanced toward the hallway with his dark sunglasses.

"Kwang?" The student asked a taller Obelisk Blue student that had orange red hair and was following him.

"What is it, Master Hyun-Ki?" Kwang questioned back.

"What's going over there? The audience was more excited than normally before." Hyun-Ki crossed his arms and regretted that he couldn't see what's going on.

Kwang became Hyun-Ki's eyes as he looked at the stadium. He narrowed his red eyes and noticed a familiar duelist. He answered, "Dynast Hiroshi is dueling against someone."

"Dynast?" Hyun-ki repeated his name, "He rarely often duel unless he's interested. Who's he fighting against?"

"The duelist you duel on the beach before school starts. Kurai Yuki." Kwang replied.

Hyun-Ki smirked, "Ah, him, of course. It's only natural that the Dynast would be interested in him. So Yuki is fighting against the very top, huh? Kwang!"

"Yes?" Kwang awaited further orders.

"Give me every single details of this duel. Every move to every card." Hyun-Ki ordered.

"Yes, master." Kwang obeyed.

"This will determine your strength, Yuki!" Hyun-Ki smirked with great interest.

* * *

"Draw." Satsohi drew his card and he quickly played a card from his hand, "I play this magic card, Allure of Darkness." [**S2**] His Magic card revealed a deck of cards giving away a purple aura in the middle of a black hole surrounded by space, "This Magic card allows me to draw two cards in exchange of removing one Dark monster from my hand. It's such a shame that I have to remove another classic card." He revealed Cyber Jar to Kurai and then put it in his pocket, "But I don't need its powerful effect to defeat you."

Kurai spoke sarcastically, "Jeeze, thanks."

Hiroshi chuckled, "You're welcome. Thanks to my Cyber Jar's sacrifice, I can activate Polymerization to fuse my two Cyber Hell Hounds in my hand," Two black hounds appeared on the field. Both of them gave a howling bark until they merged together into a swirling portal, "to fusion-summon Cyber Orthrus!" [**M5 (8/3000/2200)**] The portal then spread purple flames throughout Hiroshi's Field. A black metallic leg stepped out of the portal onto the flaming field. Soon, a huge black fearsome mechanical two-headed dog-like beast walked unto the field with loud roars that blew away the flames. It contained platinum claws and blood-stained yellow fangs. It also had a large serpentine tail with a robotic snake's head that appeared to have its own life.

The audience cheered for the monster's magnificent arrival.

"There it is! Cyber Orthrus!" Rebecca said the creature's name.

"It looked scary…" Shizuka admitted.

"Wow," Tsubaki praised, "It's stronger and cooler than Twin-Headed Dragon! Cyber Hell Hound is really fearsome!"

"But it's not over yet. The horror still continues." Rebecca mentioned.

Rad whistled as he was impressed, "If you say it like that, I want to face him when I get the chance."

Tsubaki looked at Rad, "Not if I duel him first!"

Lisa scoffed, "Like any of you will ever be worthy of challenging our pride of Obelisk Blue."

Vanessa chipped in, "Yeah, that's right!"

Tsubaki glared at them, "Why don't you just watch me? I will get stronger! I will become stronger!"

"It's not over yet," Hiroshi declared, "because I activate my Cyber Hell Hound's other effect. When I have Cyber Hell Hound in the graveyard, I can special summon it by returning another Cyber Hell Hound from the graveyard to my hand." He grabbed one card from his graveyard slot and added it to his hand, "Rise from the gates of Hell, Cyber Hell Hound!" The monster slot on the Field suddenly became entirely black and in the center was a pair of red glowing eyes. The eyes flashed dangerously as a black mechanical dog jumped from the darkness and landed on the Field with a frightening howl. Hiroshi continued, "And when Cyber Hell Hound is special summoned this way, it gain 400 ATK boost." [**Cyber Hell Hound: 2000 + 400 = 2400**]

Kurai just stared at field with three monsters and cursed, "Damnit."

Tsubaki gaped as he was amazed, "Wow, a monster with a special summoning effect and ATK boost…that's crazy!"

Rebecca pointed out, "That's the true danger of Cyber Hell Hound, when there's two copies of it in the Graveyard, one can be special summoned while the other returned to a Hand. And you can do all this right after fusion-summoning Cyber Orthus."

"That's like swarming with high level monsters," said Rad, "Man, Cyber Hell Hounds are scary…"

"Now, have a taste of Hell," Hiroshi ordered, "Cyber Hell Hound! Burn Bolt Assassin with Hell Flare!" The black hound opened its mouth and shot dark red flames that quickly swallowed the electric assassin. Its armor completely melted, and then its body shattered away with flickering sparks.

Kurai: 4000 – 800 = 3200. Hiroshi: 4000.

Hiroshi extended his arm, "Cyber Fu Guardian! Attack directly with Cyber Defense Spark!" The robotic Chinese lion roared as its golden mane glowed brightly. It opened its mouth and fired a ball of golden energy directly at Kurai. The Osiris Red quickly braced his arms but the force made him skidded backward few feet. Kurai could only glared as his life points decreased more.

Kurai: 3200 – 700 = 2500. Hiroshi: 4000.

Hiroshi chuckled, "I thought you would be a worthy opponent but so far, I'm not very impressed." He gave one last order, "Cyber Orthrus!" The two-headed hell dog opened their mouths, gathering purple flames within, "Double Hell Fire!" The two-headed beast unleashed a powerful stream of vile purple flames that traveled toward Kurai in high speed.

"YUKI!" Izumi cried.

"Sorry to burst your victory parade, but I played Draining Shield!" [**T3**] His face-down card flipped up, showing the picture of a general holding up a circular shield against a lizard warrior, "I can negate your dog freak's attack and gain Life Points equal to its ATK!" A round shield appeared and set up a dome barrier around Kurai, defending him from the flames. Immediately, the flames whirled around the barrier and became absorbed into the shield. The object glowed brightly and basked Kurai in a warm light, healing his Life Points.

Kurai: 2500 + 3000 = 5500. Hiroshi: 4000.

The audience groaned as the Dynast's victory was blocked.

Lisa was in crisis. She gasped frantically, "I don't who I should support! My heart belongs to both of them."

Tsubaki rolled his eyes and spoke sarcastically, "You'll like any hot guys, psycho."

Hiroshi gave a small smirk, "Heh, so you clawed your way out of Hell? I end my turn."

Izumi was watching pure concern but she cheered, "Come on, Yuki, you can do it!"

Morgan suddenly walked in to get a closer look at the duel. She scoffed, "Hmph, that troublemaking punk doesn't have any chance of winning."

Izumi jumped back as she didn't notice her until the last moment, "Professor Morgan?" She noticed a moss-haired man, "Professor Tyrell?"

Tyrell grinned, "Hey, Izumi!"

Zenobia smiled, "How so nice of you to come watch your student's duel, Professor Morgan and Tyrell."

Morgan scowled, "Don't waste your breath. Since you're here, I suspected you have something to do with this."

Zenobia chuckled and smiled devilishly, "I only want to grant a student's true desire."

Morgan hissed, "Stay away from my dorms, you…"

Izumi felt cold beads of sweat dripping down the back of her head and slowly backed away from the thick tensions between two women. She whispered to Tyrell next to her, "Do they have some history or something?"

Tyrell sweat-dropped too as he didn't like the tension, "Obviously but I don't know what it is though."

"Draw!" Kurai quickly drew his card. He grabbed another card from his hand and played it right away, "I play Pot of Greed! [**S3**] I draw two cards!" A famous green pot with a yellow toothy smile materialized as Kurai drew two more cards. He glanced at his new card and smirked, "It seemed luck smiled upon me," He snatched a card from his Hand, "I play Splitting the Loot!" [**S4] **The magic card showed up on the field with a picture of two masked mercenaries clasping each other's hands as they made a deal to split the treasure on the worn map pinned in the background, "With this card, I can get Polymerization and E-Merc Bolt Assassin from the Graveyard," He grabbed two cards ejected from the Graveyard slot, "Then I'll play Polymerization to fuse my E-Merc Bolt Assassin and E-Merc Stone Guarder [**M6 (4/800/2000)**] to fusion summon E-Merc Thunder Titan!" [**M7 (6/2500/1400)**] Suddenly a giant rock pillar rose from the ground and the black storm clouds gathered above. Instantly a powerful lightning struck the rock pillar, exploded into thousand pieces and revealed a giant warrior in blue armor. The Thunder Titan was huge, taller than Cyber Orthrus. He wore thick midnight purple armor all over his body and his arms and legs. All over the armor were beautiful carved decorations of lightning bolts. He wore his armors over black dark sleeves and on the center of his body armor, contained a jeweled orb that glowed shockingly blue. His purple helmet with cross hole on the front and metal horns on the sides covered his entire face. He also had two large thrusters on his back instead of wings.

Izumi gasped at this remarkable sight, "Woah."

Tyrell whistled, "That's really impressive!"

Tsubaki gaped, "Another fusion! When is this guy going to stop!"

Alexander smiled, "Probably never."

Kurai pointed his index finger at Cyber Orthrus, "My Thunder Titan's effect allows me to destroy 1 monster whose original DEF is lower than the ATK of E-Merc Thunder Titan! Destroy Cyber Orthrus with Black Thunder!"

The Thunder Titan raised his arms toward the ceiling and sent lightning to the sky, creating dark stormy clouds above Cyber Orthrus. Suddenly the storm sent a powerful black lightning toward the two-headed dog, causing its robotic body to explode into purple flames.

Kurai smirked proudly over his triumphant, "I place two cards face down." He inserted two cards into the M/T slots, making them appeared on the Field, "Then I activate Mirage of Nightmares [**S5**]," he played the last card of his Hand, summoning a magic card with a picture of a horrified warrior surrounded by mummies to the Field, "and end my turn."

"How come Yuki didn't attack with his Thunder Titan?" Tsubaki asked.

Rebecca smacked her head and groaned out of frustration.

Shizuka had a sweat droplet and decided to explain for Rebecca, "Because Hiroshi's Cyber Fu Guardian is still on the Field, even if Yuki's monster attacks, Hiroshi can still negate that attack."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." Tsubaki understood.

"What a simple-minded idiot." Lisa commented.

"Idiot!" Vanessa agreed.

"Who's asking you?" Tsubaki roared at both of them.

"Draw." Hiroshi drew his card, "Heh, since it's now my Standby Phase, you're going to draw 4 cards due to Mirage of Nightmares, right?"

Kurai didn't answer as he just drew four cards.

Hiroshi chuckled, "I guess, I said the effect for you. Allow me to tell you another one then."

Kurai looked at him suspiciously, "Another one?"

Hiroshi smiled, "Yes, you see. Dawn Cyber Keelut has another effect." The graveyard slot of his Duel Disk started emanating black flames, "When Dawn Cyber Keelut is in the Graveyard, it is treated as Cyber Hell Hound. I'm sure you know what that means."

Kurai gritted his teeth, "You're summoning another one?"

Hiroshi gave a small grin, "Correct. I return Dawn Cyber Keelut from the Graveyard to my Hand to special summon Cyber Hell Hound!" The black flames of the graveyard slot suddenly tossed out the Cyber Keelut card which was caught by the Dynast, "Rise from the gates of Hell, Cyber Hell Hound!" His duel disk shot the same black flames to the field, summoning the second robotic version of the denizen of Hell, "And since I have two of them," he played a magic card that had a picture of a stone dog-like statue glowing with blue electricity and many thick wires attached to it as they were using the status as a power source, "I play a Magic Card, Divine Stone Turbine! [**S6**] By sacrificing two Cyber Hell Hounds from the Field," Both Cyber Hell Hounds vanished, "I can special summon Great Cyber Shisa!" [**M8 (7/2500/1600**] Immediately, a giant stone lion statue rose from the ground. Then the statue made a cracking sound and soon, glowing crack lines appeared all over it. Suddenly, the statue burst apart, revealing a magnificent mechanical lion that appeared twice as tall as Hiroshi. It had brilliant luster silver plates all over its thick body and its bushy tail, heavy paws, and proud mane were adorned in beautiful crimson metal. The legendary dog guardian gave a loud prideful roar, "And guess what? I have three Cyber Hell Hounds in the grave. I'll return one Cyber Hell Hound to my hand to special summon another Cyber Hell Hound to the field!" Hiroshi added the Cyber Hell Hound card to his Hand as the fearsome dog jumped to the Field again with more power than before. [**Cyber Hell Hound: 2000 + 400: 2400**]

The audience cheered loud again as they were impressed with Dynast's smart play.

"Man, this duel is intense!" Tsubaki commented.

"Talk about the Battle of the Giants." Rad pointed out since both Duelists been summoning large monsters.

"Great Cyber Shisa's effect allows me to destroy any monster with ATK or DEF higher than or equal to its ATK," Hiroshi explained, "Since your E-Merc Thunder Titan's ATK is equal to my Great Cyber Shisa's ATK, I can destroy it!" Hiroshi pointed to Thunder Titan, "Great Cyber Shisa, obliterate him with Heat Sphere!" The mechanical lion roared and opened its mouth. Red electricity gathered inside its mouth as it swirled together to form a large ball. It then launched the ball toward the gigantic warrior on Kurai's field.

Kurai smirked as his face-down card flipped up and the red sphere was suddenly deflected by an invisible barrier around Thunder Titan.

"What?" Hiroshi was surprised, "What do you do?"

"I play Divine Wrath!" [**T4**] Kurai declared as the card revealed itself with a picture of a cloudy sky firing a destructive beam that shocked the battleship on the bottom, "By discarding one card, I can negate the effect of your Great Cyber Shisa and destroy him!" He discarded one card in his Hand and the trap card suddenly glowed brightly in an orange light. The card fired a laser that blew up the Great Cyber Shisa. He smirked, "What are you going to do next?"

Some of the audiences were actually cheering for Kurai's counter while the rest were booing for the destruction of the Dynast's monster.

"Lord Yuki was brilliant!" Lisa complimented with starry eyes and suddenly sulked, "But Dynastlost his monster," She suddenly brightened up, "But Lord Yuki was wonderful." She sulked again, "But Dynast's monster was dead."

Vanessa just sweat-dropped and walked away as she was thinking that her friend was just pure crazy.

"Alright, Yuki, go for the counter!" Tsubaki cheered him on.

Shizuka asked Rebecca, "Who do you think will win now?"

Rebecca's glasses glinted and she pressed it back up, "It's actually hard to decide."

"What do you mean?" Shizuka asked.

Alexander explained, "Yuki is getting the edge however, there's still a trump card that the Dynast haven't use. That card will determine the true victor." He smiled.

Rebecca looked at Alexander annoyingly, "He knows way too much."

Alexander chuckled, "Knowledge is power."

Rebecca countered, "Too much of a good thing."

Alexander retorted, "Always strive for more."

Rebecca continued, "Be blessed with what you have."

Alexander smirked, "It is no good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge."

Rebecca glared at Alexander.

Alexander just smiled.

Tsubaki just had a question mark above his head, "I have no clue at all."

Rad grinned as he tried to explain, "It's it obvious? They're having a verbal match. They're such close friends!"

Rebecca stuffed the hot dog into Rad's mouth, "We're not friends!"

Shizuka, who was somewhat naïve and inherited from her brother's average brain, blinked in confusion, "Huh?"

Hiroshi frowned slightly but smiled as he enjoyed this duel greatly. He looked down with a contented look, "I'll end my turn."

"Draw!" Kurai drew and he immediately sat his last face-down card, "I activate Emergency Provisions!" [**S7**] His card flipped up, showing a picture of cans and crackers, "By sending a magic or trap card on my Field, I can gain 1000 Life Points. I choose Mirage of Nightmares!" His permanent magic card shattered as he gained more Life Point.

Kurai: 5500 + 1000 = 6500. Hiroshi: 4000.

Kurai looked at the last three cards in his Hand, _'this guy...he didn't set any face-down cards to protect his monsters…is it because he has a bad hand?' _He veered over his hand to glance at Hiroshi,_ 'But from the look of his stupid face, he's still confident with himself but why…' _He narrowed his eyes coldly, _'I increased my Life Points just to be safe, so I'm going to give everything I got this turn!'_ He immediately played his second Polymerization card, "I play Polymerization to fuse E-Merc Tempest Lady [**M9]** with E-Merc Flame Berserker [**M10**] to summon E-Merc Blazing Windman!" [**M11**] He used all the cards in his hand to summon his favorite monster. A tornado appeared on the Field along with a fiery pillar. They merged together and formed an orange flying warrior with his hawk's head on his blue left arm. The Blazing Windman landed on the ground next to Thunder Titan whose huge compared to the other mercenary.

Kurai made his move, "I'll use E-Merc Thunder Titan's effect! Destroy Cyber Hell Hound with Black Lighting!" The giant mercenary raised its arms again and summoned forth a black lightning that pulverized the black creature, "E-Merc Thunder Titan, attack Cyber Fu Guardian with Violent Lightning Blast!" The Thunder Titan charged himself with lightning and quickly sent black Lighting that shocked the Cyber Fu Guardian into explosion. The lightning continued its path and shocked Hiroshi's Life Points.

Kurai: 6500. Hiroshi: 4000 – 1800 = 2200.

Kurai still continued on, "E-Merc Blazing Windman, attack him directly with Blazing Hawk!" The winged warrior took flight and aimed his hawk's head toward Hiroshi. He fired a purple flaming hawk that consumed Hiroshi in burning purple flame.

Kurai: 4000. Hiroshi: 2200 – 2100 = 100.

Izumi gasped in surprise and thought to herself, _'Yuki is beating the Dynast. He's really amazing! Amazing!'_

Morgan couldn't believe her eyes. Her least favorite student dealt an extreme amount of damage to the Dynast, "I-i-impossible!"

Zenobia smirked as she stood back and just enjoyed the show.

Tyrell clenched his fist in excitement, "Alright! He really is my student! It takes a man to do all this incredible stuff! I'm so impressed with my teachings."

Izumi sweat-dropped and retorted, "What's so impressive about it? You're a P.E. teacher."

"Hey, a P.E. teacher can have a significant impact." Tyrell crossed his arms and stroked his chin as he was a wise man.

Izumi looked away with a bigger sweat droplet, "Uh-huh…" She looked back at the duel.

Tsubaki pondered, "How come Hiroshi didn't use the Cyber Fu Guardian's effect? Wouldn't that save some of his Life Points?"

Alexander explained, "Not really, it would cost him a victory. If he negated E-Merc Thunder Titan's attack and let E-Merc Blazing Windman to destroy it. He would lose 1400 Life Points but there's also Blazing Windman's effect that would make him lose 2900 Life Points."

"Um…." Tsubaki tried to think.

Rebecca smacked Tsubaki with her haisen, "What's 1400 + 2900 equals?" Her forehead vein was twitching.

"Hold on!" Tsubaki whined, "I'm not good at calculating that fast!"

"It would be 4300 total." Alexander answered while smiling.

"Ohhhhhhhh," Tsubaki understood, "Man that would made Hiroshi lose."

Shizuka noticed that the Fisherman was quiet the entire time, "Fisherman-san?" She asked with concern.

The Fisherman remained staring at the duel as it was the most important game in history of sports…er I mean…dueling.

Rebecca commented, "Huh? For the first time, he's actually behaving." She suddenly screamed as she felt someone improperly groped her.

The Fisherman snickered.

Rebecca's eyes were twitched very hard and her forehead veins were throbbing. She clenched her fist so hard that veins were sticking out. She yelled, "YOU PERVERT!" She sent him flying to Pluto with her steel haisen.

A sweat droplet formed on Tsubaki's head as he gulped, "Remind me not to make Instructor mad."

Rad laughed, "Yeah, you definitely don't want to get on her bad side although…she has a good arm. She could make a good baseball player."

Tsubaki commented, "Maybe…but wouldn't her height be a problem?"

Rad blinked, "That's true. Her short stature is not going to make her run very long, huh?"

Rebecca's forehead veins twitched even more as she stood behind them with a steel harisen in her hand and a large fire behind her, "It appears that you guys are just begging to be punished."

* * *

Kwang was observing the entire duel from the arena's outskirt, "Dynast's Life Points is down to 100 while Yuki's Life Points remained full. It's now Dynast's turn."

"I see." Hyun-Ki started to walk away, "Come on, we should get going."

Kwang was confused, "You don't want to know the victor?"

Hyun-Ki chuckled knowingly, "The victor is already decided."

* * *

Hiroshi was impressed that he lost lot of Life Points already in one turn. He smirked, _'Heh, this guy could be one of the top…no...Perhaps the best duelist on this island after me_.' He remembered what Professor Zenobia told him a couple of minutes ago.

"You want me to what?" Hiroshi asked the Professor who had called him to her office.

Zenobia smirked, "I want you to fight an Osiris Red student in your Promotion Exam."

Hiroshi was confused by this strange request and swayed his head, "Sorry but I don't have time playing with others. I said I only wanted strong opponent." He thought to himself, _'Everyone is getting boring around here. Where can I find the one that would make me have a thirll? Quench my passion for great battle?'_

Zenobia's smirk grew wider, "What if this Osiris Red student is Kurai Yuki?"

"Kurai Yuki?" Hiroshi raised his eye in suspicion, _'I have heard of him. He even dueled against Hyun-Ki too. If Hyun-Ki fought him, there must be something interesting about this freshman.'_ Hiroshi accepted, "Sounds interesting, fine, I'll do it. Kurai better be a strong opponent." He walked away.

* * *

Hiroshi smiled as he clenched his fists, "I'm getting riled up! Draw!" He drew his card, "You really are an interesting duelist. No wonder Hyun-Ki wanted to fight you. You broke through my fusion of Cyber Hell Hounds and Cyber Fu Guardian and Great Cyber Shisa too. I'm impressed."

"Are you done?" Kurai asked in bored tone.

Hiroshi laughed, "Yeah, I'm done. Sorry, Kurai, but this is the end, I'll be the victor" As soon as he said the last word, he played a spell card with a picture of a glorious holy symbol, "I play Monster Reincarnation to discard Dawn Cyber Keelut to bring back Cyber Hell Hound to my hand, now I have two in my hand." He smirked, "Now, I just need the third one and since I tossed Dawn Cyber Keelut to the Graveyard…"

Kurai's eyes widened slightly, "You're special summoning the third one?" He knew that Hiroshi had two Cyber Hell Hounds.

"Correct! I return Dawn Cyber Keelut to my hand to special summon my last Cyber Hell Hound!" Hiroshi grabbed the card from the Graveyard slot as his signature card appeared once more from the depths of Hell, "Now…" He slowly grabbed one card, "I'll play a special card that an old friend from the Cyber Style Dojo gave to me."

Kurai repeated, "The Cyber Style Dojo?"

Alexander stopped smiling, "It seemed….that the Dynast got the trump card."

Tsubaki turned his head sideway to face Alex, "The trump card?"

Alexander closed his eyes, "Power Bond."

Hiroshi smiled, "With all three Cyber Hell Hounds on the Field and in my Hand, I can use Power Bond." [**S8**] His last Magic card showed numerous metals with tool equipments.

Kurai's eyes widened in shock, "No." He softly mumbled.

"I activate Power Bond to fuse all three of my Cyber Hell Hounds to summon Cyber Cerberus!" [**M12 (10/3800/3000)**] Hiroshi raised his hand toward the sky as a huge black gates rose from the Field. The gates slowly opened, revealing a magnificent machine coming out of the pit of fire. A three headed Cyber Cerberus with its thick dark-grey plated body and a red generator core in the chest surrounded by black wicked claws. Below its muscular body and behind its legs appeared to be living red skin that bugled with dark flames. The red-eyed three-headed beast opened their mouths at the same time and gave the loudest roar ever in chorus.

The audience cheered at their maximum power. Izumi just gaped with her eyes wide. Kurai could only gulp as a single sweat droplet dripped down his face.

Hiroshi explained the Power Bond, "Because of Power Bond, my Cyber Cerberus gained an additional 3800 Attack Boost!" Cyber Cerberus's ATK increased to 7600, "However at the end of the turn, I would have to take 3800 damage to my Life Points but that wouldn't happen because my Cyber Cerberus can attack three times," Hiroshi pointed at Kurai and his Field with Blazing Windman and Thunder Titan, "Cyber Cerberus, burn them all with Eternal Damnation!" The three headed dog roared and created a powerful prism flames that headed toward Kurai and his monsters. Both warriors instantly melted by the sheer power of the Cyber Cerberus's flames and the fire still raged on its path of destruction toward Kurai.

Kurai just gaped as the prism flames consumed him all. Kurai's amber eyes widened and suddenly his sight became blurry. The very last thing he remembered was the glass shattering into thousand pieces, the bit of his past. As the glasses continued to break in his mind, Kurai finally blacked out as his body landed on the ground roughly with his cards flying out of his Duel Disk.

The other just gasped.

Izumi's violet eyes quivered and she cried, "YUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

**TBC**

**

* * *

Next Episode Preview  
**  
**Tsubaki**: OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!

**Izumi:** Would you stop saying that?

**Tsubaki:** Yuki actually lost! Man that gotta hurt big time!

**Izumi:** It seemed Yuki took this loss very seriously.

**Tsubaki:** Oh come on, even the best duelists have to lose sometimes.

**Izumi:** Why don't you say that to Yuki? Huh? Yuki, where are you going? Huh? Where does Yuki go? **::she ran off::**

**Tsubaki panicked:** Hey Izumi, you're going to miss your exam!

**Next Episode: Episode 12 – The Ruins Underneath.  
**

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Duel – Cyber Cerberus**

**Alexander: **A truly fearsome beast that guards the gates of Hell. Not only that it has high ATK power, it's capable of attacking three times. Combine his machine subtype with Power Bond, he's even scarier. **::he chuckled::**

**Izumi shivered:** This is a really scary card! I felt sorry for Yuki to face such a scary dog.

**Alexander:** Oh, Izumi, you show sympathy to a duelist but no sympathy for the poor puppy?

**Izumi: **Eh?

**Alexander: **That's alright. You didn't know that Cerberus was actually three innocent puppies.

**Izumi: **Seriously?

**Alexander: **They were siblings. Two brothers and one sister. They were abandoned by their mother. They have to fend themselves in the cold cruel world. They were alone but they were never apart. They continue to survive, knowing that they have each other.

**Izumi: **That's so…sad…yet kinda sweet…

**Alexander: **Indeed, it is sweet. The siblings love each so much that they made a wish to the God that they would never be separated. And their wish came true, they would never be separated again because they are now one!

**Izumi: **…..**::she gaped::**….eh?

**Alexander: **It's a wonderful dream come true for the three puppies but then there's a matter of privacy and sibling rivalries. Everything just went downhill from there. **::he chuckled::**

**Izumi: **….why do I keep believing you?

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 – Cyber Hell Hound: Dark/Machine/5/2000/1700: **Effect: During your Main Phase, by discarding this card, add up to 2 "Cyber Hell Hounds" from your Deck to your hand. You can return 1 "Cyber Hell Hound" from your Graveyard to your hand to special summon 1 "Cyber Hell Hound" from your Graveyard to your Field. If you Special Summon this card in this way, it gains 400 ATK.

**M2 – Dawn Cyber Keelut: Dark/Machine/4/1500/1300**: Effect: Once per turn, you can discard 1 card from your hand to treat this card's name as "Cyber Hell Hound" until the End Phase. This card's name is treated as "Cyber Hell Hound" while in the graveyard.

**M3 - ****E-Merc Bolt Assassin: Light/Warrior/4/1600/1000**

**M4 - ****Cyber Fu Guardian: Light/Machine/6/700/2900**: Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summon. This card can only be special summon by the effect of [Dharma Defense Module]. When this card is in face-up attack mode, once per turn you can negate the attack of one of opponent's monster.

**M5 – Cyber Orthrus: Dark/Machine-Fusion/8/3000/2200: **Cyber Hell Hound + Cyber Hell Hound: Effect: A Fusion Summon of this card can only be conducted with the above Fusion Material Monsters. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

**M6 - ****E-Merc Stone Guarder: Earth/Warrior/4/800/2000**

**M7 - ****E-Merc Thunder Titan: Light/Warrior – Fusion/6/2500/1400**: Effect: Destroy 1 monster on your opponent's side of Field with DEF strength base lower than the ATK strength of this Monster. This effect can only be used once during your Main Phase.

**M8 – Great Cyber Shisa: Light/Machine/7/2500/1600: **Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except with "Divine Stone Tubrine". Once per turn, you can destroy 1 monster with ATK or DEF equal to or higher than or equals to the ATK of this card.

**M9 – E-Merc Tempest Lady: Wind/Warrior/3/1000/1000**

**M10 – E- Merc Flame Beserker: Fire/Warrior/3/1200/900**

**M11 - ****E-Merc Blazing Windman**: Wind/Warrior – Fusion/6/2100/1200: This card can only be special summoned by fusion summon. When this card destroys and sends a Monster to the graveyard in battle, do damage equal to the defense strength of the monster destroyed to your opponent.

**M12 - ****Cyber Cerberus: Dark/Machine – Fusion/10/3800/3000**: Effect: A Fusion Summon of this card can only be conducted with the above Fusion Material Monsters. This card can attack three times during the same Battle Phase.

**S1 - ****Polymerization – Normal Spell**: Fuses 2 or more Fusion-Material Monsters to form a new Fusion Monster.

**S2 - ****Allure of Darkness – Normal Spell**: Draw 2 cards, then remove from play 1 DARK monster from your hand. If you don't have any DARK monsters in your hand to remove, send all cards in your hand to the Graveyard.

**S3 - ****Pot of Greed – Normal Spell**: Draw two cards from your deck.

**S4 - ****Splitting the Loot – Spell**: Add 1 "Polymerization", and 1 "E-Merc" monster from your Graveyard to your hand. If you do not Fusion Summon successfully, you take 1000 damage.

**S5 – Mirage of Nightmares – Continuous Spell: **During your opponent's Standby Phase, draw cards until your hand has 4 cards. During your Standby Phase, randomly discard the same number of cards you drew with this card's effect to the Graveyard.

**S6 - ****Divine Stone Turbine – Quickplay Spell**: This card can only be activate by sacrificing two [Cyber Hell Hound] on your field. Special Summon a [Great Cyber Shisa] from your hand, deck, or Graveyard to the field.

**S7 - ****Emergency Provisions – Quick-play Spell**: Send Spell or Trap Cards on your side of the field to the Graveyard except this card. Increase your Life Points by 1000 points for each card sent to the Graveyard.

**S8 - ****Power Bond – Normal Spell**: Send, from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a Machine-Type Fusion Monster Card, and Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon). Increase the ATK of this Special Summoned Fusion Monster by an amount equal to its original ATK. During the End Phase of this turn, the player who activated this card takes damage equal to the original ATK of the Special Summoned monster.

**T1 - ****Magic Jammer – Counter Trap**: Discard 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard to negate the activation of a Spell Card and destroy it.

**T2 - ****Dharma Defense Module – Normal Trap**: This card can only be activated by sacrificing a [Cyber Hell Hound] on your field. Special summon a [Cyber Fu Guardian] from your hand or deck.

**T3 - ****Draining Shield – Trap**: Negate the attack of 1 of your opponent's monsters and gain Life Points equal to its ATK.

**T4 - ****Divine Wrath – Counter Trap**: Discard 1 card from your hand. Negate the activation and the effect of an Effect Monster and destroy the monster.


	22. 12: The Ruins Underneath

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry to say that this chapter does not have a duel! I know it's a sin in GX universe not to have a dueling chapter when practically every GX episode has dueling in it but hey, there was a recap episode at the beginning of Season 3 of GX! That doesn't count as dueling episode lol! Regardless of what I don't have, I hope you enjoy this chapter because we are now entering an arc.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX!

**Author's Note: **In GX's timeline, we're still in Misawa vs. Manjoume duel.

**

* * *

Episode 12: The Ruins Underneath.**

"Go Featherman!" A small dual brown-haired boy dressed in shorts and red t-shirt was running around the small playground with a green superhero action figure in his hand. He held it high above his head and made it seemed like Featherman was soaring, "Feather Strike!" The boy made his toy dived, "KABOOM!" The Featherman toy had trampled over the sand-made figure of a human knight dressed in curved armor with horns.

"Hey! I made that!" The dual blue-haired boy complained as he witnessed the brown-haired boy destroyed his creation with his toy.

The brown-haired boy smirked, "Heh, sorry!" His big childish eyes became starry eyed, "Good always triumph over evil!" He held his Featherman toy proudly.

The blue-haired boy pouted and whined, "First of all, Featherman can't beat Dark Blade!"

"Why not?" The brown-haired boy demanded to know.

"Because Dark Blade is much stronger!" The blue-haired boy answered.

"Nah-uh!" The brown-haired boy countered.

"Uh-huh!" The blue-haired boy retorted.

"Nah-uh!" The brown-haired boy countered again.

The blue-haired boy crossed his tiny arms, "What's your excuse!"

"Heroes always win over evil!" The brown-haired boy gave a toothy smirk as he gave a dramatic thumb's up.

"Oh bother," The blue-haired boy rolled his amber eyes out of annoyance.

"Hoi," The brown-haired boy grinned.

"What?" The blue-haired boy asked annoyingly.

"Who's your hero?" The brown-haired boy asked out of simple child's curiosity.

"Huh?" The blue-haired boy raised his eyebrow out of suspicion, "Why you're asking?"

The brown haired boy shrugged, "I just felt like it," He gave his cute toothy grin again, "My hero is Elemental Hero Flame Wingman! What about yours?"

The blue-haired boy just looked away with his arms crossed, "Hmph, I'm not telling. You broke my sand toy!"

"It's going to be broken anyway!" The brown-haired boy countered, "Come on, please!" He clasped his hands for begging, "I want to know!"

The blue-haired boy remained silent as the other child kept begging him. He sighed out of annoyance and finally answered, "Fine…" He looked at brown haired boy, "My hero is you."

* * *

Suddenly amber eyes snapped wide awake and his body suddenly sat up. His lips opened right away as he was gasping for air. Kurai closed his eyes as he slowly lied down on a bed while putting his hand on his forehead. He slowly opened his eyes as he noticed the clear white ceilings. He glanced around to see hospital equipment and a white blanket on the top of him. He groaned to himself, _'Been so long since I remember the past. Why am I remembering it now?'_ Suddenly the Millennium symbol flashed in his mind and Kurai moaned loudly as he held his head. The symbol vanished and he gasped to himself, _'What the hell is going on? What is that stupid thing that flashed in my head?'_ Kurai remembered his duel with Shadow, the mysterious duelist, _'Damn him, he was supposed to explain this.'  
_  
A maroon-haired girl suddenly slid the door opened to the hospital room, holding a bouquet of flowers in her arm. Her violet eyes moved toward the teenager who was sitting up. Izumi's eyes widened and she yelled out of happiness, "YUKI!" She rushed up to him, "You're alright!"

Kurai's left eye was twitching and he mumbled to himself, _'Great, the annoyance is here and if she's here then…'_

A tall guy with red spiked hair rushed in, "Yuki is awake?" Tsubaki was surprised to see Kurai up and exclaimed, "YUKI, you're okay!"

Kurai's left eye was twitching even more as he smacked himself, _'There's the second annoyance.'  
_  
"Yuki?" Izumi stared at Kurai with concern, "Is something wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Kurai replied concisely.

"You're sure?" Tsubaki crossed his arms and commented concernedly, "I mean you were out for hours."

"Hours?" Kurai asked right away, _'I have been out that long but why I was out? I can barely remember.'  
_  
"Yeah, you were knocked out right…" Tsubaki was about to answer until suddenly Rad jumped on him, "!"

"Look whose up from his beauty sleep!" Rad exclaimed happily while holding on to Tsubaki's spiked hair.

Tsubaki groaned out of frustration and snapped with red angry eyes "Get the hell of me, you psycho!"

Kurai closed his eyes as his forehead was twitching out of complete annoyance because his quiet time was disturbed.

A sweat droplet formed on Izumi's head as she witnessed Yuki's anger, "Yuki…." Izumi's violet eyes quivered and she spoke, "I was really worried when you got knocked out right after you lost that duel."

Suddenly, the three lost three words triggered his mind. Kurai just held his head because as his foggy memories slowly restored his head.

"Yuki?" Izumi asked out of concern.

Kurai's eyes widened as he remembered the prism flames that struck him as his Life Points depleted to zero, "I lost." He clenched his fists tightly.

"Yuki?" Izumi asked and then she quickly noticed that Kurai's fists were bleeding from clenching too tight, "Yuki, you're bleeding!"

Tsubaki averted his eyes from Rad to Kurai.

Kurai didn't listen to her as red blood dripped from his hands, _'I lost. I lost to that elite! How can I lose? Damnit! Already…by now that guy is ahead of me! Goddamnit!'  
_  
Tsubaki went up to him and yelled, "Hey! Stop hurting yourself! All duelists have to lose sometimes! You can't expect to win all the time!"

"Even the King of Gamers lost too!" Rad pointed out.

The narrator rolled his eyes, "Sure, only FEW TIMES out of more than two hundred episodes."

"Ignore the invisible being that watches us from above and control every steps and moves of us." Rad warned.

The narrator's forehead vein twitched.

Tsubaki stared at Rad strangely, "what the hell are you talking about?"

"It's nice to see that my cold student is up already." The other noticed a little blonde girl along with Ra Yellow amber-brown haired girl and Obelisk Blue black haired boy and golden-haired boy.

"Instructor! Shizuka-san! Alex!" Izumi called out each of their names and then she looked at the last one with white suspicious eyes, "the stalker."

Ethan's forehead vein twitched but he smirked evilly with a black aura around him, "Do you want me to spill your deep secrets here?" He chuckled evilly.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Izumi questioned but at the same time, she disliked the evil energy sending from Ethan.

Ethan's eyes glinted, "I'm talking about a certain thing called Pookie."

Izumi's eyes widened out of shock as her jawbone dropped completely. She waved her arms frantically, "Okay! Okay! Okay!" She bowed repeatedly, "I'm sorry for calling you a stalker!"

Ethan smirked as he won, "Good."

Alexander just laughed as he was amused.

Izumi made a pouting face and whined, "Meanie."

Tsubaki blinked in confusion and asked out of curiosity, "Who's Pookie?"

Izumi just punched Tsubaki with a mean uppercut, "IT'S NOTHING!"

"Doesn't seem like nothing," Rad pointed out but quickly had a sweat drop on his face as Izumi glared at him with red demonic eyes. He just looked away nervously with many sweat droplets pouring, "Never mind, it's nothing."

"Yuki-san, you're bleeding." Shizuka noticed Kurai's new wounds.

Kurai narrowed his eyes into a glare and looked away, "It's nothing. Go away." He replied coldly.

"Hold on just a minute," Rebecca interfered, "I know you're a cold loner type of emo but that doesn't mean you have to be rude to her. She was only concerned for the sake of your health like your classmates here." Rebecca's glasses glinted as she moved it up her nose, "Don't be such a sore loser." She said as she knew the cause of Kurai's bleeding.

The word loser caught Kurai's attention as he quickly moved his head and glared at Rebecca with hatred in it.

Rebecca just crossed her arms, "Accept it. Students here had their losses and so do I. Don't be such arrogant fool. We don't need that sort of attitude here at the South Duel Academy. Now apologize to Shizuka for your rudeness."

Shizuka tried to convince Rebecca, "Rebecca-san, it's alright."

"Well his attitude reminds me of a certain person!" Rebecca complained as she remembered the King of Game's tall rival with his famous Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Alexander stood in front of her and since he was tall, Rebecca is short compared to him. Rebecca's head could not even reach Alexander's shoulder height. Alexander smiled with his eyes closed, "I thought you're off teaching duty, Instructor?"

Rebecca looked up and frowned, "Just because I'm off-duty, doesn't mean that I can't teach anyone a lesson on winning and losing."

Alexander chuckled, "I think Yuki already understood losing very well."

"…Hmph," Rebecca looked away.

Alexander just smiled.

"Instructor?" Kurai asked.

Rebecca averted her sight to him, "What is it?"

Kurai narrowed his eyes to express his seriousness, "What do you know about the ruins?"

Rebecca's eyes widened in shock but she quickly composed herself, "I don't know where you heard it but it's best you forget about it." She left rather quickly.

"Rebecca-san." Shizuka looked back at Kurai, "I hope you'll be back on your feet soon." She smiled, "See you later." She waved bye as she quickly followed Rebecca.

"What was that about?" Tsubaki asked once the Instructor was gone.

"Ruins?" Izumi questioned Kurai, "Is there ruins near here or something?"

"None of your business." Kurai answered coldly.

Izumi and Tsubaki twitched at the same time and even yelled at the same time, "WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

Kurai covered his ears by instinct, "Annoying."

"There is a ruin near here." Alexander caught their attention.

Izumi was surprised, "You mean there's an actual ruin near here?"

Tsubaki questioned, "How come we never notice it in the first place?"

"Because we students are not supposed to know about it," Ethan explained as he took out an old looking notebook, "Before the Duel Academy was built; it appeared to be that the site construction workers found the ruin nearby here but it was well hidden. They found the entrance by accident and discovered many fascinating things related to duel monsters inside the ruin."

"How come it had to be a secret?" Izumi asked, "A ruin like that should bring fame to anyone who found it."

"Because the same workers who went in there never came out at all." Alexander answered while smiling.

Izumi turned ghostly white with dark feeling burdening her shoulders, "….Y…y-y-you mean….they….d-d-d-die?"

"All except one," Ethan continued on, "It seemed that there was something rare and valuable hidden according to the ruin scriptures but all of them had fell into a deadly traps. All had died except one who lived to tell the tale. Thus, no one was ever allowed in the ruin and no one ever entered it again."

Izumi's body shivered as she was scared, "Traps? They die?"

Tsubaki clenched his fists as his eyes were replaced by stars, "Coooool! I bet there's some awesome secret rare treasure under that ruin! I got to get there and find it!" He fantasized about living in riches.

Ethan interrupted Tsubkai, "Sorry to ruin your fantasy but we're not allowed in there."

Tsubaki cursed, "Damnit."

Alexander chuckled with his arms behind his back, "Shouldn't you be going? Your promotion exam is starting, isn't it?"

Tsubaki looked at his watch, "Oh crap, you're right!" He looked at Kurai, "Hey, Yuki. Don't worry about it. For what it's worth, you're incredible for facing the Dynast."

Kurai scoffed as he looked away, "I don't want to hear it from you."

"What?" Tsubaki frowned at Kurai's rude attitude, "I'm just trying to cheer you up! Well, screw you then!" He quickly rushed off.

Izumi sighed as she knew that would happen. She waved at Yuki, "See ya, Yuki, we'll come visit later!" She left too along with the others.

Kurai waited until they were finally gone. He gritted his teeth as he couldn't accept his loss. He refused to accept it because he swore to catch up to that person, to beat that person, _'Damnit…Damnit all to Hell! If I can't beat the number one duelist of the South Duel Academy, how am I supposed to face him?'_ The thoughts of it made Kurai just completely frustrated with himself, _'At this rate, he…HE….He's just going to get much stronger than me…I have to catch up…I got to catch up!' _He then remembered what Shadow said to him, "If you seek more power, go to that ruin." He narrowed his eyes to show that he was serious.

* * *

Izumi was walking with Tsubaki toward their dueling stadium. Izumi was in deep thoughts about Yuki. She spoke, "Do you think something happened to Yuki when he was little?"

"Huh?" Tsubaki blinked in confusion.

Izumi sighed, "It's just that Yuki….doesn't seem to take his loss very well."

"Hmm," Tsubaki scratched his head, "not to sound mean but I think all his wins probably gone straight to his head and as the result, he doesn't accept loss anymore. I mean I know he's really amazing duelist but loss is a loss and everyone gets that."

Izumi looked back at the opposite side of the hallway while Tsubaki walked on, "Hmm…" She decided, "I'm going to go check on Yuki."

"Huh? You're sure?" Tsubaki looked back, "I mean your duel is going to start soon."

Izumi waved her hands to assure Tsubaki, "Don't worry. I'll be back in jiffy." She ran back.

Tsubaki shrugged, "Okay, I'll catch you there." He walked to his duel.

* * *

Izumi rushed back to the hospital center and slid the door open, "Yuki!" She called his name but to find no one answered back her call. She called again, "Yuki?" She walked in, feeling rather empty in this room as if…

Izumi gasped as she noticed the bed was empty, meaning that Yuki isn't here. She yelled, "Yuki is gone!" She ran out of the room and glanced in all directions. She yelled, "Yuki!" She ran even more and yelled again, "Yuki!" She tried another direction and called his surname, "Yuki!" After running all over, she winded up back in the hospital room. She was catching her breath, "I can't find Yuki!" Then she remembered that Kurai asked Rebecca about the ruins, "He wouldn't…would he?" She had no choice, "If he's going there, I'll find him and bring him back!" She ran out again.

* * *

It was Tsubaki's turn as he appeared on the screen with Gratia Gem Dragon right behind him and the official logo on the bottom right corner.

Tsubaki stared at the screen strangely and then looked at the Narrator, "Um, don't you normally do this part at the start of the second chapter of the episode?"

Narrator replied, "Well, normally, yeah but since both chapters are short, I'm merging them into one chapter! Just like the 1st episode!"

Tsubaki looked at the Narrator suspiciously, "But you never did this at the 1st episode."

Narrator sweat-dropped, "Well…there's a first time for everything!"

Tsubaki narrowed his eyes, "Is this some lame attempt to make me forgive you for not including a commercial break for me during episode 6 when I dueled against Rad?"

Narrator chuckled nervously, "Is it working?"

Tsubaki's eyes glinted dangerously, "Nope." He cracked his fists.

The Narrator paled. He then looked at the readers, "Why do I make my characters capable of hurting me fatally?" He sulked with tears pouring out of his eyes.

* * *

Tsubaki had already started his Promotion Exam. He was standing on the dueling stage and on the opposite side of the stage was another Osiris Red student who was bald and squinty eyes on his round face. Both of them had already activated their Duel Disks and drew five cards.

Tsubaki yelled, "I'll go first!" He quickly snatched a card from his disk and glanced at his hand, 'Alright, good Hand!' Tsubaki took one card from his Hand and placed it horizontally, "I summon my Sapphire Gem Dragon!" [**M1 (4/1700/1400)**] A giant sapphire crystal gathered on Tsubaki's field and suddenly shattered with glass breaking sound as the blue lizard-like dragon with sapphire spikes on its spine came out on the Field, "I set two cards face-down!" Two more cards materialized on the Field behind Sapphire Gem Dragon, "I end my turn." He smirked cockily.

The bald student declared with his raunchy voice, "Draw! You're going down!" He took one card from his hand, "I summon Vorse Raider!" [**M2 (4/1900/1200)**] A mud-colored skinned devil-like warrior came to the Field with its dark leather jacket with green lines and purple crystal and also had the same decorations with his pants. He wore a helmet with purple jewel surrounding it and four huge horns attached to it. He possessed a sharp black spear that also contained purple jewels as decorations, "Vorse Raider, slice his dragon in half!" The beast-warrior charged and sliced the poor defending Sapphire Gem Dragon in half but the dragon had left behind a sapphire gem, "What's that supposed to be?" He demanded to know.

Tsubaki explained, "When Sapphire Gem Dragon goes to the Graveyard, I can special summon a Sapphire Gem Pup Token!" The sapphire crystal shattered, revealing an adorable blue baby gem dragon and its stats were displayed, **100/100**.

The baldy scowled, "I'll kill your precious baby the next turn! I'm done."

"Big mistake! Draw!" Tsubaki yelled as he drew and pressed two buttons on his Duel Disk, "I activate both of my face-down cards, Rock Bombardment!" [**T1**] Both of his traps cards had the same picture of the castle being under attack by rocks. Suddenly his cards changed into two giant wooden catapults behind his blue baby gem dragon, "With these cards, I can choose two Rock Sub-Type monsters and do 500 damages to your life points. The monsters I chose are Ruby Gem Dragon [**M3**] and Emerald Gem Dragon! **[M4**]

Immediately, a red lizard-like dragon with two thick ruby crystals on its shoulders was put on the bowl of catapult. The second one contained a green-lizard like dragon with emerald crystal wings. Both of catapults launched and both dragons became balls of concentrated energies that knocked out chunk of his opponent's life points.

Tsubaki: 4000. Baldy: 4000 – 1000 = 3000.

Suddenly a ruby shoulder crystal and emerald wing crystal were left behind on Tsubaki's Field. Tsubaki explained their presence, "When both of my Dragons go to the Graveyard, I can special summon two tokens, Ruby Gem Pup Token!" The ruby crystal shattered, revealing a small baby red dragon, "And Emerald Gem Pup Token!" The emerald crystal shattered and revealed a small baby green dragon, "Since, it's still my turn, I sacrifice my Emerald Gem Pup and Sapphire Gem Pup," The blue and green baby dragons vanished from the Field, "to summon my strongest monster, Gratia Gem Dragon!" [**M5**] A beam of light struck the Field and a magnificent crystal-plated dragon appeared on the field with its obsidian crystal-plated wings and diamond-plated scale.

The baldy just gasped at the dragon's brilliance.

"Also, my Gratia Gem Dragon gain 300 ATK power increase for each rock type on the Field and I count two!" Tsubaki stuck two fingers out of his hand as the dragon roared as its powerful ATK increased from 2700 to 3300, "Then I use this magic card, M-Force," [**S1] **He showed a card with a crystallized letter M, "to increase my Gratia Gem Dragon's ATK by 500 till the end of my turn!" The dragon's scales shone brightly as its ATK rose from 3300 to 3800. Now Gratia Gem Dragon, destroy his Vorse Raider!" The dragon's mouth snapped open as it fired a prism-colored beam that obliterated his opponent's Beast Warrior.

Tsubaki: 4000. Baldy: 3000 – 1900 = 1100.

Tsubaki declared, "Also, when my Gratia Gem Dragon destroys a monster, I can do 300 Life Points damage to you!" The dragon's prism beam continued across the floor like a homing laser until it pierced through the baldy's chest.

Tsubaki: 4000. Baldy: 1100 – 300 = 800.

Baldy winced but laughed, "Ha! You didn't finish me off!"

"True but I never said I end my turn," Tsubaki smirked, "I now use a magic card, Ruby Destruct!" [**S2**] His magic card had a picture of a ruby with a crack and was glowing dangerously. The baby dragon took flight with its small wings, "By sacrificing this token, I can do 1000 damages to you!" The baby dragon glowed bright red and plummeted toward the baldy and made a shattering explosion.

"Now, game over." Tsubaki grinned cockily as victory was his.

The baldy just shivered out of shame for himself.

Tsubaki: 4000. Baldy: 800 – 1000 = 0.

Baldy cried, "My name is not baldy!"

"Well you're not important! So who cares?" The narrator complained.

The baldy sniffed and burst into hysterical tears as he ran off.

The narrator stuck his finger in his ear and twisted it since the baldy's cries had made him gone deaf, "Good riddance, why do I even create him in the first place?"

The cheers wasn't loud as the cheers for Kaiser versus Kurai duel probably because of the reason that the audience seats only consisted of Osiris Red students and few Ra Yellow students since the higher grades doesn't really care about the duels between dropouts.

Alexander had watched the duel, "It seemed Tsubaki had gotten stronger."

"His strength had increased by twenty five percent." Ethan calculated.

Rad smiled, "But he still had millions of things to do before he catches up to me!"

Alexander smirked sadistically, "His improvement rate is very fast."

Rad frowned slightly, "What are you saying?"

Shizuka just walked up to them, "Did I arrive too late?"

"Yeah, you just miss Tsubaki's duel!" Rad exclaimed, "But you're just in time for Izumi's duel."

"That's good," Shizuka sat down in her seat and she glanced around, "By the way, where is Izumi?"

"Five percent that Izumi is attending "personal" business. Ten percent that Izumi is in trouble with a professor. Thirty-five percent Izumi is hanging out with Yuki." Ethan answered her question with his impressive knowledge.

Shizuka had a sweat droplet because he had calculated the possible outcomes of where Izumi could be. She dared to ask, "And the other fifty percent?"

"Izumi is lost." Ethan replied right away.

* * *

Meanwhile on the island was a large forest where many furry creatures inhabited. The tropical birds were cawing on the tree branches. Footsteps were heard as the land animals walked through. Insects were buzzing as they loafed around. The trees leaves were rustling as the wind blew them. The forest seemed so quiet and natural.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Until an unnatural high-pitched scream suddenly shattered the natural scenery and quietness. The scream belonged to no other person than Izumi Kitamori. She was deep inside the forest, gasping for air with her hand using the tree as support. Her Osiris Red was stained with green colors from pushing aside bushes, branches, and avoiding deadly creatures. She took a deep breathe and yelled to the world, "WHERE THE HELL AM I?"

* * *

Alexander just laughed as he was amused by Ethan's calculations.

"That was kind of mean." Shizuka frowned slightly.

"I apologize," Alexander smiled, "I just couldn't hold it in. It just seemed like Izumi to get lost."

Tsubaki walked up the concrete stairs and found everyone, "Hey guys, am I awesome or what?"

"Well…" Rad was about to say something.

"Don't even think about saying it, Psycho." Tsubaki covered Rad's mouth and he blinked in confusion. He moved his eyes around and asked, "Where's Izumi?"

Rad mumbled since his mouth was covered by Tsubaki's hand.

Shizuka answered, "They said she hasn't come back yet."

"She hasn't watched my duel?" Tsubaki complained as he crossed his arms and finally uncovered Rad's mouth, "Man that sucks big time. I wanted her to brag to that cold hearted stiff."

"Are you sure that's really it?" Alexander smiled with his forest green eyes that seemed to know something.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tsubaki looked at Alexander as he was strange. He walked back down the stadium stairs, "I'm going back to the medical center to see if Izumi is still there."

Rad shouted, "You better hurry! Her duel is coming up soon!"

"I know!" Tsubaki shouted as he quickly ran off and headed toward the medical room. He ran all the way there and slid the door open, "Izumi, Yuki!" No answer were heard and the room was silent, "That's weird." He knew it was strange because Izumi was talkative person and Kurai was not. He walked deeper into the room and saw that no one was here. He asked himself, "Where did they go? Man, Izumi is going to miss her promotion exam." He noticed a letter on the top of the dresser next to Kurai's bed. He picked it up and read it. His eyes went back and forth until it suddenly widened, "Oh crap." He ran off.

Tsubaki went back to the stadium and found everything, "Izumi and Yuki went to the ruins!"

Ethan crossed his arms, "I thought so."

"Oh you mean the same ruins where people entered and then died horribly gruesome deaths?" Rad asked.

Tsubaki twitched at the mention of death, "Um..yeahhhh that same place, alright."

Shizuka gasped, "Oh no!"

Tsubaki went back down the stairs, "I'm going to go search for them! You guys stay here in case they come back!" He jumped to the bottom floor.

Rad jumped over the audience seats and followed Tsubaki, "Hey, I'm going with you!"

Tsubaki stopped running, "Eh why?"

"I can't just stand by and ignore this. So let me help you guys." Rad explained.

Tsubaki stared at Rad seriously, "Hmm, I underestimated you…I thought you're some crazy psycho who just want to hang out with us just for fun."

Rad grinned, "But you guys are fun. After all, that's why Alex was with you, right?"

Tsubaki looked at Rad as he was idiot. He sweat-dropped, "Never mind, you're still a psycho but at least a good one. Alright, let's go!" They headed out of the Duel Academy.

Alexander smiled slightly as he watched them ran off, "This certainly is getting interesting."

Shizuka quickly walked away from her seat.

"Where are you going, Shizuka?" Ethan asked.

"I'm going to tell Rebecca-san. She needs to know this." Shizuka ran off in the hallway.

* * *

Tsubaki was running through the forest, staining his Osiris Red uniform but he doesn't really care, "Damnit, why are they going to the ruins for?" He stopped to catch his breathe, "Come to think of it," He had a sweat droplet on his head, "Where the hell is the ruins?"

Rad pushed aside giant leaves as he caught up with Tsubaki, "Yeah, we should have ask that in the first place, huh?"

Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched and then turned to face Rad, "Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"Hey, I didn't think about it until you mentioned it." Rad defended.

Tsubaki retorted, "But you're supposed to be Ra Yellow! Technically, I hate to admit but aren't you supposed to be smarter as in having more common sense than me?"

"Actually…" Rad spoke seriously.

"Actually?" Tsubaki repeated.

Rad answered bluntly, "I have no common sense."

Tsubaki just stared at Rad with a white blank look on his face. His face gained colors as many blood veins twitched on his forehead. He then snapped with demon fangs and fire out of his breath, "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE THEN?"

Rad replied, "Because you guys are going on a fun adventure and I want to join?"

Tsubaki looked at Rad with a complete disbelief in his face. He then made a choking gesture as he yelled out of frustration, "How is this whole thing an adventure?"

Suddenly they heard a snap. Tsubaki narrowed his eyes and tried to guard himself from any predatory animal. He soon heard leaves rustling and he knew that the predator was coming closer. Instantly, the predator revealed itself and Tsubaki could only say one thing.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Tsubaki was still screaming at the predator with his finger pointed at it accursedly, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Izumi's forehead vein twitched and she shouted, "STOP SCREAMING!"

Tsubaki was still screaming, "It's the attack of the ruin zombie! It came back from the dead and now come to eat our flesh for revenge!" He pointed to her pale scary face with her eyes drooping and her arms were so thin that he could see her bones.

"WOW! The teachers really pay a lot of money just to create a special effects doll just to scare us from the ruins. The details on this robotic puppet are incredible!" Rad's eyes shone like star as he greatly admired the works.

Tsubaki fell down and he quickly got up. He pointed to the zombie, "Did you not see that it's a real zombie?"

Izumi's second vein twitched and she smacked his head with her fist, "I'M IZUMI!"

* * *

Few minutes later after some food and water inside her body, Izumi finally looked normal.

Tsubaki had a giant sweat droplet on his forehead as he rubbed the back of his head out of embarrassment, "Sorry, Izumi, I didn't recognize you."

Izumi's forehead vein twitched, "Oh sure, you can't tell a difference from a girl and a flesh-eating zombie." She spoke sarcastically.

Rad chuckled, "But you're amazing, Izumi. You put so much work into your cool zombie costume. You'll be a hit in Halloween!"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "It wasn't a costume…"

Tsubaki asked, "Hey, where's Yuki?" He removed his hand from his head, "I thought he was with you."

"I'm still searching for him," Izumi sighed, "I know Yuki is going to the ruins. Where else could he be?" Izumi asked.

"I don't know," Tsubaki replied, "But why does he want to go there?"

Izumi looked down, "Maybe it had something to do with that loss against the Dynast."

"Man!" Tsubaki complained, "If that's the reason then he's being such a sore loser!"

Rad suggested, "Or maybe it's something else. Maybe he's looking for something in the ruin."

Tsubaki rolled his eyes, "Oh please, why would Yuki risk his life for something in the ruin," then it hit him and his eyes were covered in shadow, "Unless," Suddenly his eyes were replaced by fire, "He was looking for the treasure too! That cold-hearted stiff bastard! He's trying to get the treasure before me!" He roared with flames coming out of his mouth.

Rad laughed, "Oh, so it's not an adventure but a competition to see who get the treasure first, huh?"

Izumi had numerous sweat droplets coming out of the back of her head and she thought, "I don't think that's it."

Suddenly, they heard branches snapped and leaves rustled. Birds were making loud cawing sounds as they flapped their wings out of the forest.

Tsubaki noticed the presence, "Something is coming."

The leaves rustled more and nearby creatures were running away.

Izumi gulped as she grabbed Tsubaki's shirt and cling to Tsubaki.

Suddenly something caught Tsubaki's shoulder and both Osiris Red students yelled, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

Back at the Duel Academy building, Hiroshi, the Dynast, was just watching the peaceful sea from the patio on one of the upper floors.

Hyun-Ki walked onto the patio, "Certainly peaceful around here, isn't it?"

Hiroshi noticed him, "Hyun-Ki, it's rare to see you walking around."

"Wouldn't it be a surprise if I can actually see you?" Hyun-Ki went up to the patio and rested his arms, "I would love to see the ocean again."

Hiroshi just looked back at the ocean, "You rarely talked to me," He narrowed his eyes, "Is it about him?"

Hyun-Ki smirked, "Very perspective, Dynast." He asked, "What do you think of him?"

Hiroshi looked up at the sky, "Hmm, he's still rough and still had long way to go."

"Other than that," Hyun-Ki smiled, "He's an interesting duelist."

Hiroshi gave a slight smirk, "Indeed he is," He then frowned, "but…"

"But?" Hyun-ki asked.

Hiroshi answered, "I dislike this strong hatred coming from him. It seemed that he forced his way through Hell just to win."

Hyun-ki smirked, "And is that a bad thing? I remember the King of Games's archrival is not exactly a nice person too."

* * *

Kurai was just calmly walked through the forest, gently watched his step and his surroundings. His hands were bandaged since he cut himself. He put his hand on the tall tree as he walked closer into the deep part of the forest. He cursed to himself, _'Damnit, where is it?'_ He continued paved his way through the bushy areas as he seemed to know where it is, _'Strange, I don't know where it is but I felt like something is leading me.'_ He followed the path that his mind had created it in his head. He pushed away the thick giant leaf and saw a giant stone temple in his view. He smirked, "Found it."

* * *

Tsubaki was trying to calm his beating heart that kept pounding his chest.

Izumi had a giant sweat droplet on her head as she fully saw the new predator, "Alex?"

Alexander was laughing hard as he held his stomach, "Oh my god that was hilarious. Moments like these are indeed priceless."

Tsubaki's forehead vein snapped, "Hilarious! You scared the hell out of us!"

Rad pointed out, "But I wasn't scared."

Tsubaki snapped, "Shut up!"

Alexander just laughed even more.

Tsubaki clenched his shaking fist with red demonic eyes and razor sharp teeth.

Izumi had more sweat droplets on her face but she finally asked, "Alex, do you came here to search for Yuki?"

Alexander stopped laughing and smiled, "Isn't that obvious?"

Tsubaki snapped out of his angry face, "If you're here to search for Yuki…that means," He suddenly became excited, "you know where the ruin is, right?"

Alexander smiled, "Hmmm…"

Tsubaki walked up closer, anticipating for the answer.

Alexander smiled, "Nope."

Tsubaki just fell down immediately.

Izumi almost fell and groaned, "I should have known."

"Shouldn't you know me by now?" Alexander chuckled but suddenly had a stern expression as he noticed something.

"Alex?" Izumi noticed a change in his expression.

Alexander just smiled, "Never mind, we should get going." He walked ahead.

"Hey, wait for me." Izumi followed him.

Rad followed, "Alright, Yuki! We're not going to lose to you!"

Tsubaki smacked his own forehead, "This is not a competition!"

* * *

Kurai walked up the decayed stone stairs. He quickly reached the top and saw an outside hallway filled with broken stone pillars that consisted of duel monsters. He looked at each of one of them as he slowly walked forward. He stopped as he faced the giant stone doors. His amber eyes glanced up as the stone doors were two stories tall. He noticed three symbols on the doors that bear no resemblance to any duel monsters he seen except three. He though to himself, _'I never seen these before…but they look closely related to three legendary gods. What is inside this ruin?'_ The words that Shadow had imprinted in his mind kept repeating it, _'Only one way to find out.'_ He pressed his hand on the door and suddenly it flashed brightly, "What the hell!" The door released a beam of shining light that reached the sky.

* * *

The Fisherman, Kamil, was staring out of the glass paned window as he witnessed the beam of light, "The ruins….it opened?"

**TBC**

**

* * *

Next Episode Preview**

**Izumi:** Ehhhhh? The ruin is opened?

**Tsubaki:** Alright, baby! Now I'm going to get that treasure!

**Izumi:** Is treasure all you think about?

**Tsubaki:**….um yeah…..

**Izumi:** Is treasure really going to be worth it after going through so many deadly traps?

**Tsubaki:** No biggie, Yuki went through them.

**Izumi:** Ack, Yuki! Where is Yuki!

**Rebecca:** What are you guys doing here?

**Tsubaki:** It's the Instructor, RUN! **::he ran off with Izumi::**

**Next Episode: Episode 13 – Inside the Ruin**

**Rebecca: **I made a guest appearance and they all ran off. I get no respect at all.

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Duel – Vorse Rider**

**Alexander: **Wow, a classic Lv. 4 star normal monster. Used by Kaiba in the Legendary Battle City. Before all those new cards, the Vorse Rider was the best Lv. 4 star monster with its sheer ATK power.

**Izumi: **But now the best normal monster is the Gene-Warped Warwolf, huh?

**Alexander: **Indeed it is but Vorse Raider has the star quality. Beside don't you know what people would do back then for this card?

**Izumi: **What did they do?

**Alexander smiled: **All kinds of things like trading, ante dueling, stealing, murdering.

**Izumi's eyes widned: **Murder?

**Alexander smiled: **Yes, for the sake of owning rare cards, people are willing to take an innocent life for the sake of a mere flat piece of paper.

**Izumi: **That's crazy!

**Alexander: **Oh but it's quite true. Don't you remember a notorious criminal group in Battle City? The Rare Hunters.

**Izumi: **Erk! They go after anyone with rare cards.

**Alexander smiled: **Indeed they do…by the way…you have a rare card I want. **::he said it slowly in a creepy tone.::**

**Izumi was silent. She gulped:** ….Alex? **::she backed away. She then ran off:: **AHHHHHH!

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Sapphire Gem Dragon: Water/Rock/4/1700/1400**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Sapphire Gem Pup Token] (Water/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M2 - ****Vorse Raider: Dark/Beast-Warrior/4/1900/1200**

**M3 - ****Ruby Gem Dragon – Fire/Rock/4/1900/1200**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Ruby Gem Pup Token] (Fire/Rock/2/1000/1000) to the Field.

**M4 - ****Emerald Gem Dragon – Wind/Rock/4/1800/1300**: Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Emerald Gem Pup Token] (Wind/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M5 - ****Gratia Gem Dragon: Light/Rock/7/2700/2200**: Effect: Increase this card's ATK by 300 for each Rock type Monster on all Fields. For each Monster that this card destroys and send it to the Graveyard as a result of Battle, do 300 points of damage to your opponent.

**T1 - ****Rock Bombardment – Trap**: Choose 1 Rock Sub-Type Monster from your deck and send it to the Graveyard. Do 500 damage to your opponent's Life Points. Afterward, shuffle your deck.

**S1 - ****M-Force – Quick-play spell**: Increase the ATK of 1 monster that includes [Gem Dragon] in its card name by 500 points. When the monster targetted by this card's effect attacks with an ATK higher than the DEF of your opponent's Defense Position monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. This effect lasts until the End Phase of the activated turn.

**S2 - ****Ruby Destruct – Quick-play Spell**: Destroy one Ruby Gem Pup Token on your side of field. Inflict 1000 damage to your opponent.


	23. 13A: Inside the Ruin

**Author's note: **Lot of character interactions here. What can I say? I'm a sucker for great character interactions. (hence my insane passion for Tales games) We have finally reached the 13th episode which means…um…well only 1/4th of Season 1 which is still kinda small, huh? Netherless, it was a long ride but we made it! After few more quick episodes, the ride will be longer but I hope you hang in there with me. I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave a review! Oh, also, we're still in Yugioh GX 12's episode's timeline.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yugioh GX!

**

* * *

Episode 13: Inside the Ruin**

Deep within the island contained a hidden ruin that was not disturbed for many years since the incident after building the infamous Duel Academy on this island. But now the ancient stone ruin's doors were unlocked by one teenager. An Osiris Red Student who possessed a hidden desire that would make him overcomes many obstacles in his way. As the doors finally opened, the ruin sent a powerful beam of light, signaling its disturbed slumber. Back at the South Duel Academy, many students gaped at this amazing sight and bombarded themselves with questions as what is that light and where does it come from? The students were unaware that there are others who knew about the ruins.

The Fisherman, Kamil, just walked out to his patio from his office and stared at the beam of light with hint of concern in his unrevealing eyes, "Is this is what you feared, Shadow?" He mentioned the name of the mysterious visitor that came to this island not too long ago.

* * *

Elsewhere in the thick fog, a mysterious hooded duelist was climbing up the rocky mountain through the thick forest. The duelist noticed a faint beam of light behind the obscuring fog and narrowed his all-knowing eyes. He stopped climbing and commented as he knew what it means, "So the wheel of destiny had slowly turned forward."

* * *

Within the great forest, four Duel Academy students' eyes were on the beam of light.

The maroon-haired girl, Izumi, just gaped, "Woah."

Tsubaki, the red-spiked haired student covered his eyes from the bright light with his hand, "What the hell is that?" He wanted to know the origin of the mysterious light.

Alexander, the Obelisk Blue student, just focused on the beam of light for awhile and smiled, "I think it's telling us where Yuki is."

"Yuki?" Izumi's attention was caught by mention of his name.

Rad, a light violet-haired student, peered forward, "That's awfully nice of him to tell us where he is."

The beam of light disappeared and the sky went back to normal.

"Man, it disappeared." Tsubaki kept his eyes on the sky, "What was that?"

"I don't know but we won't find out if we stay here." Izumi suggested.

"Good idea." Alexander commented.

Rad shot his fist up as he cheered, "Then let's go to the ruins!"

"Hold it right there!" A loud child-like voice shattered the natural quietness of the forest.

Tsubaki and Izumi paled as their skin turned ghastly white as they heard that familiar voice. They slowly inched their head with that scary creaking sounds toward the noise.

They saw a little girl with glaring eyes behind her glasses and stern expression. They noticed a taller and older Ra Yellow female student behind her.

Tsubaki yelled, "Instructor?"

Izumi yelled too, "Shizuka-san?"

Rad laughed, "Ha! Ha! Ha! We got busted already, huh?"

Tsubaki smacked Rad's head, "This ain't no laughing matters!"

Rebecca, the teenage instructor, crossed her arms and her forehead vein was twitching, "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

Alexander just smiled and waved, "Hi there. We're just enjoying our lovely nature…"

"Can it!" Rebecca told Alexander to shut up.

Alexander feigned a pained look, "Oh how rude."

"You shouldn't be here in the first place!" Rebecca yelled at the students.

Izumi whined, "But what about Yuki? He's still out there!"

"Just leave it to the professionals like me and the teachers." Rebecca meant herself and the other liable teachers.

Tsubaki's eye twitched out of suspicion and spoke sarcastically, "Leave it to you?" He pointed at Rebecca accursedly, "You're the same age as us!"

Rad pointed out with his index finger, "Not to mention that she's awfully short too!"

Rebecca's many veins in her forehead throbbed and she snapped, "Shut up, I just don't have my growth spurt!"

Tsubaki rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Ha! You're just saying that because you knew you're going to be short forever."

Rebecca twitched even more and she pulled the sleeves up her arms, "Oh that's it, you're going down, buster." She said it a deadly quiet voice.

Tsubaki had a giant sweat droplet rolling down his head, "Um…"

"DIE!" Rebecca launched at him and there was a large white cloud with hands and feet sticking out as punches and blows were landed.

"I thought a teacher is not supposed to hurt a student?" Tsubaki cried.

"I'm off duty!" Rebecca growled.

"Hang in there, Tsubaki! Don't lose to her!" Rad shouted.

Shizuka and Izumi had a giant sweat drop behind the back of their heads.

Alexander smiled with his arms behind his back, "It seemed so fun."

Shizuka had even bigger sweat droplet and pointed at Alexander while looking at Izumi for a simple explanation.

Izumi just swayed her head while holding her arms up, "Don't ask."

Alexander asked, "I thought the teacher is supposed to take us back?" He innocently (yeah right) pointed out.

Rebecca stopped beating up the poor Osiris Red student, "You're right!"

Tsubaki just pushed her off immediately and yelled, "RUN!" He ran off through the forest.

Rad laughed as he was having a lot of fun while running after Tsubaki, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Full speed ahead!"

"Ack! Tsubaki! Rad! Wait for me!" Izumi shouted as she went after them.

Alexander smiled, "Sorry, my loyalty lies with them." He followed the three students.

"Hey, stop right there!" Rebecca roared and she went after them.

"Rebecca-san!" Shizuka also followed them.

* * *

Inside the Duel Academy center, all the headmasters and headmistresses had gathered at the Principal's large office for an emergency meeting.

Kamil was sitting on his modern chair behind his desk littered with messes that he usually left behind for Rebecca to deal with. But this was no joking matter and instead of putting his usual joking smile and his favorite beach hat, he had a serious expression plastered on his face, "First of all, I like to thank all of you for coming so quickly. It seemed we have a dire crisis in our hand."

"Does this have to do with the beam of light that we all saw?" Morgan, the Osiris Red headmistress, asked.

Kamil replied, "Yes, it is. That beam of light indicates that someone as we are speaking now is inside the forbidden ruins."

Morgan narrowed her eyes, "The ruins? Who would be so foolish to go in that place?"

Kamil glanced at Schmitt, the Ra Yellow headmaster and Duel Academy doctor, "Dr. Schmitt has the answer."

Schmitt explained, "As you all know, Kurai Yuki had fainted after his loss to the Dynast. I deducted that the reason for that unconsciousness is that losing dealt a heavy blow to his mind."

Tyrell, Osiris Red headmaster, blinked in confusion, "What does that have to do with the situation?"

"I'm not finished," Schmitt continued, "I was about to do a second check up on him but instead, I found his bed empty. I asked around just to find that not only Kurai was missing but Izumi, Tsubaki, Rad, Alexander, and Shizuka were missing too. Also, Miss Hopskins."

"Eh, you mean those missing kids were the ones in the Ruins?" Tyrell realized.

Schmitt nodded, "It's the only possibility."

"Kurai Yuki," Morgan said his name venomously, "I knew that he would be causing more trouble but this time, he has gone too far. And he had to get Miss Hopskins and the other students involved too in his dirty mess too."

Zenobia, the Obelisk Blue headmistress, questioned, "Oh? How can you be sure it was entirely Kurai's fault? What make you so sure that the other students and Miss Hopskins did not enter the ruins out of their free wills?"

Kamil swayed his head, "I know Rebecca is the daughter of the famous Dr. Hopskins but I know her well enough to know that she would only be in the ruins if she's trying to stop someone."

Anya, Ra Yellow headmistress, "Shizuka is a friend of Miss Hopskins. She often hang out with her in her first year and this year too."

"And the rest must have follow Kurai like they always do." Morgan scoffed, "This is all Kurai's fault."

"Instead of pinning blames on our student, we have a crisis here." Kamil interfered, "We have students entering a highly dangerous zone. If we do not rescue them, there's a high possibility that they might not come back for next year."

"Also…" Anya warned, "the spirits have warned me that there is a great evil in that ruins. And because the ruin is opened, that evil will awake soon."

"Evil?" Tyrell gulped, "You mean there's some freakish voodoo king inside that ruin or something?"

Zenobia chuckled, "Mileah, you may be a Professor but this is really far-fetched."

"I wouldn't deny the possibility." Gabriel, the Obelisk Blue headmaster, finally spoke, "Duel monsters were discovered in the Egyptian ruins by Pegasus along with the three powerful God cards. There could be powerful force inside our ruins."

"There is one." Kamil's answer surprised most teachers.

Tyrell asked, "You mean that there's actually a powerful freakish voodoo king in that ruins?"

Kamil swayed his head, "Rest assured it's nothing of that sort or any other spiritual beings that Miss Anya could summon."

Tyrell sighed out of relief, "That's good…" He then coughed, "Not that I'm scared of any netherworldly stuff because it's not manly to be afraid of silly superstitious stuff."

Kamil rested his chin atop of his arms perched on the desk, "It's something far worse."

Tyrell panicked, "Something far worse?"

"It's not manly to be afraid of silly superstitious stuff, Tyrell." Gabe spoke with sarcasm.

"What is this something far worse?" Schmitt asked.

Kamil closed his eyes, "I can't say."

The teachers were surprised at his answer.

Kamil sighed as he didn't want to do this but he had no choice, "I'm sworn to secrecy with Pegasus. I cannot tell you what is inside that ruins but I will tell you this. It is something that would put the students in grave danger. So our top priority is to rescue them."

"Once we get them," Morgan crossed her arms, "we'll have to expel Kurai for this insurgence."

Gabriel retorted, "I don't think that's an acceptable punishment. Kurai would not have entered the ruins if someone had not rigged his duel."

Zenobia chuckled, "Trying to pin the blame on me, Gabe? You're such a gentleman beside who's the one who allowed a duel between Kurai and a former Pro League duelist, Leory?"

Gabriel countered, "They're both first years. Leroy is an arrogant student, so I allow this duel to teach him a lesson. However, Hiroshi is a third year and much superior duelist than Leroy. You knew that Kurai would lose to him."

Zenobia smirked, "Oh Gabriel, I just merely give a student the chance to become greater than before. I'm so hurt that you have so much distrust for me."

Gabriel looked away, "One can't trust a person who held so many secrets."

Zenobia looked at Gabriel, "What about you, Gabriel if that is your real name."

Kamil suddenly slammed his desk with a loud banging sound that caught everyone's attention, "This is no time for arguments. Tyrell, Gabriel, I'm assigning both of you to this rescue mission."

Tyrell saluted, "Yes, sir."

Gabriel nodded, "Affirmative."

* * *

Tsubaki ran as he reached the end of the forest. He took a deep breathe and gasped, "I think we lost them."

"Why do we run away from them?" Izumi gasped as she caught up to him.

"Because we don't want to get detention!" Tsubaki answered.

"True." Izumi replied as she shivered while she remembered the cruel detention that Morgan assigned her to.

"We get detention if we get caught?" Rad blinked, "That's harsh. I thought we're just playing tag here."

Tsubaki stared at Rad as he was some kind of happy idiot, "Why? Why on Earth would you think this is tag?"

Rad pointed it out naively, "Because Instructor is it, and we don't wanna lose to Yuki?"

Tsubaki was about to snap but then realized there was some logic in his saying, "In way, that is true but you're still an idiot."

Rad grinned, "A happy idiot is better than an idiot."

Izumi yelled, "Guys, we didn't come to lose to Yuki! We came to save him! Now, we need to find that ruins!"

"It seemed we found it." Alexander was with them and he doesn't seem like he was out of breath like the others.

The students glanced at Alexander's direction and gaped as they finally found the ruin.

Tsubaki's jawbone dropped in amazement and he smirked proudly, "Alright, treasure, here I come!"

Izumi gave Tsubaki a strong disapproving frown.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped and changed his words, "Um…Treasure, here we come?"

Izumi frowned even more as she was more disappointed.

"What?" Tsubaki had his palms out as he was trying to figure out why his friend was disappointed.

Rad suggested, "Maybe, it's supposed to be Yuki, not treasure?"

Tsubaki sighed as he was annoyed, "Fine. Yuki, here we come. That stupid cold hearted stiff bastard."

Izumi smiled, "That's better."

"But while we look for Yuki, we'll get the treasure!" Tsubaki advised strongly.

"That if we don't die, that is," Alexander chuckled.

Tsubaki snapped with teary eyes, "Don't jinx us!"

Rad laughed, "Isn't risking your life is what makes the game so much fun?"

Tsubaki turned his head to Rad with red angry eyes, "It's not a game!"

Izumi was in thoughts, _'So Yuki is inside the ruin. Yuki…what are you looking for in there?'_

"Let's get down there before the little Instructor finds us." Tsubaki suggested as he tried to walk down the hill.

"STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!" They heard a familiar scream.

Tsubaki had a giant sweat droplet, "Oh crap."

"You guys are in big trouble!" Rebecca was running toward them in incredible speed as her legs were wheels and she left trail of dust clouds behind. She made a skidding sound as she slid to complete stop with her shoes, making a dust cloud fogging everyone.

"Rebecca-san!" Shizuka ran normally because she was having a hard time catching up to them. She noticed the dust clouds, "That must be Rebecca-san and the others." She walked forward until suddenly, "Huh?" She suddenly tripped over wooden branch and crashed into them, making all of them floating in mid air just RIGHT ABOVE THE HILL.

Shizuka had an expression that said Opps.

Rebecca's face said Damnit.

Rad's face was of extreme thrill as he thought this was going to be fun.

Tsubaki's face looked like he was cursing fate for cruelty.

Izumi had a sad expression with closed eyes and river of tears were pouring out.

Then time unfroze and everyone screamed as they rolled down the rocky hill.

* * *

Elsewhere in the forest, two male teachers were paving their ways toward the ruins.

Gabe stopped slicing the thick leaves with his sword. He then glanced around as he heard something.

Tyrell was right behind him, holding a very large orange backpack with emergency supplies. His packed muscles from boxing training were a big contribution. He noticed that Gabriel stopped, "What is it, Gabe?" Then he heard it too, "Was that…?"

Gabriel finished, "Human screams."

Tyrell sweat-dropped as he didn't like the sound of that, "Well, that's not good. That means they're in trouble already."

Gabriel continued slicing the leaves, "We need to pick up the pace."

"Right!" Tyrell quickly followed him with ease. He then gulped as he remembered something dreadful, "Hey, Gabe?"

"What?" Gabriel replied without looking back as he continued making their path.

Tyrell whispered, "You don't think those kids were caught by ghosts?"

Gabriel stopped swinging his sword. He then slowly looked back at Tyrell with disbelief expressed in his eyes, "You're a professional boxer with military experiences and you're afraid of ghosts?"

Tyrell groaned loudly as he felt heavily embarrassed by Gabriel's words, "I know! I know! But I just can't handle something I can't physically hit or shoot! It's those intangible floating things that freak me out!" He sighed disappointedly, "That is so not manly. Man, I wish I could be manly as you."

Gabriel had a tiny sweat droplet, "Manly as me?"

Tyrell looked at Gabriel as it was obvious, "Come on, man! Look at you, wearing a suit and a fedora all cool! If that's not manly, I don't know what it is!"

Gabriel sweat-dropped even more, "This is stupid." He went back to his task.

Tyrell continued while following, "Oh and don't forget your cold stern expression! That's manly too! And the way you eat and talk…"

* * *

Back to the others, it seemed the others were unharmed except solely one person.

"OUCH!" Tsubaki winced as he tried to get up. He yelled with red angry eyes and sharp teeth, "WILL YOU GUYS GET OFF ME?" All three girls and one guy had landed on him, thus they were protected from harm.

"Sorry, Tsubaki!" Izumi got up.

Shizuka hit her head softly, "I'm sorry, everyone. I accidentally tripped over something."

"You're such a klutz, Shizuka." Rebecca commented.

Rad grinned, "That was an awesome landing!"

Tsubaki groaned as he slowly stood up, "Man, you guys are heavy!" Suddenly his bones shivered as Tsubaki had a giant sweat droplet as he was facing two scary glares from two scary-looking angry girls.

Few seconds later, Tsubaki was lying on the ground with a huge bump on his head. Rad poked the fallen guy with a stick to see if he's alive or not.

Izumi blew off the smoke from her clenched fist, "Never ever call a woman heavy or anything related to that!"

"Hmm, I'll be sure to watch out for that then." Alexander spoke behind her, making Izumi jumped in fright.

Izumi shouted, "AHHH! But….When…..How…Where….How do you get here without falling with us?" Izumi demanded to know.

Alexander just smiled, "Simple, I just climbed down."

Izumi's eyebrows twitched as she had a sweat droplet and silently thought to herself,_ 'I should have known.'  
_  
Rebecca brushed the dust off her glasses and ordered, "This area is forbidden! I will not let you take any step further to the ruin! It's very dangerous, so leave with me!"

"It doesn't matter now," Alexander silenced Rebecca and glanced his head toward the other direction, "We have reached our destination."

"Huh?" Tsubaki sat up while rubbing the bump on the back of his head.

"You mean." Izumi quickly turned around as she faced the stone stairs that lost its prime quality over the years, "This must be." She ran up the stairs.

"Hey, wait!" Rebecca shouted as she ran up the stairs too.

Shizuka also followed them but suddenly she felt a familiar shiver through her bones. She stopped and gasped to herself while hugging her arms, _'What is this feeling? Why does it felt so familiar? This cold haunting feeling.'_ She shuddered.

"Are you alright?" Alexander asked.

Shizuka gasped but quickly smiled as she composed herself, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Izumi walked up the stone stairs and gaped in awe as she stared at the statues of the Duel Monsters, some were broken and some were rotten due to ages, "Wow." She turned around as she tried to get every directions of the sight of the ruin, "I can't believe this has been here for years."

"Well I believe that there's some big treasure down there! That's what I believe, yep!" Tsubaki clenched his fists as his eyes were replaced by gems.

Izumi looked at Tsubaki with disgust, "Is treasure is all you ever think about?"

Rad clenched his fist and raised his arm high, "Yuki, we're not going to lose to you! We're going to win this!"

Izumi looked at Rad with stupidity, "Is winning is all you ever think about?"

Rebecca stomped toward them and put her fists on her hips, "I'll say it again, students are not allowed here."

"Yeah we know. We knew about the dangers and risks but…" Tsubaki looked down.

"Yuki could be in there. We just can't leave him there! We have to go after him!" Izumi pleaded.

"…..UM YEAH…What she said!" Tsubaki pointed out.

Izumi glared at Tsubaki with disapproving look, "You're thinking about the treasure again, are you?"

Tsubaki sheepishly grinned, "Can't you blame me?"

Rebecca frowned, "Can you be serious here? This is not dueling or any games you played. This is serious! People did die here! Plus you don't know if Yuki is in there anyway!"

"But the ruin is opened," Alexander pointed to the large stone doors that stood ajar, "That is the proof that someone is in there, right?" Alexander smiled.

Rebecca scowled, "But…"

"If a teacher watches over them, then it would be okay, right?" Shizuka giggled.

"You're supporting them?" Rebecca gaped at Shizuka.

Shizuka nodded, "I think onii-chan would do the same thing if his friends are in danger too. So do him." She hinted at the word "him."

Rebecca blushed slightly and sighed out of frustration, "I guess "Darling" will do the same thing too." She put on a serious expression as a teacher, "Fine, as the teacher of Dueling Academy, it's my job to watch out for the students. So we'll look for him BUT," She interrupted their cheers, "At the first sign of danger, we'll leave, is that clear?"

"Crystal clear!" Tsubaki saluted.

Alexander laughed softly, "I thought you were off duty?"

Rebecca crossed her arms, "Oh buzz off, Von Schroeder."

_'Treasure, I'm going to get you!'_ Tsubaki clenched his fists in determination.

'_This place would make a great hide-and-seek.'_ Rad just looked at the bright yet playful side of the situation.

_'Yuki, be safe.'_ Izumi clenched her hands together to pray for his safety.

_'That cold feeling. I know I felt it somewhere before but where?'_ Shizuka kept asking herself.

_'Great, another adventure.'_ Rebecca complained silently to herself and she raised her eyebrows, _'Great, now I sound like an old woman.'_

Alexander just smiled.

And so they slowly entered the ruin.

* * *

Meanwhile inside the dark ruin, filled with narrow passageways and rotting stones, Kurai was walking, searching for the thing he desire.

* * *

Still in the forest but getting closer to the ruins.

Tyrell was still talking, "Oh, and the way you talked too! Man, when you give a lecture, every students seriously pay attention to you because they don't wanna disrespect you!"

Gabriel glanced at his sword in his hand, "I'm so tempted to use this."

**PART A END!**


	24. 13B: Inside the Ruin

**Author's note: **Sorry, I know it's been few weeks since I updated. I…was busy playing Arc Rise Fantasia, a WII RPG…as RPG devout, you must realize I was dying of thirst for RPGS because of lack of RPGS this year. I already beat FFXIII, of course. Anyhow, I'm excited about this chapter because I'm using a familiar character's deck. The duel will seem very similar to other duel and you'll see why. I hope you enjoy reading this chaper and forgive me for the delay.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! And…well…Indiana Jones….since I mentioned it once.

**

* * *

Episode 13: Inside the Ruin Part B  
**

The large blank T.V. screen switched into an image of Shizuka with a three adorable fairies with huge child-like eyes floating around behind their owner. Of course, there was an official logo of Yu-Gi-Oh GX on the bottom right corner of the screen.

Shizuka was staring at the screen and asked, "So it's my turn this time?"

The narrator crossed his arms and nodded, "Yep!"

Shizuka blinked and she looked away with her eyes filled with concern, "But what about Izumi-san, Tsubaki-san, or Rebecca-san…" The list continued on.

The narrator's forehead vein twitched with each name that Shizuka suggested. The narrator snapped, "Oh, don't be such a coward just because your big brother is not here!"

Shizuka winced, "But shouldn't others get their turns before me?"

"Well, I'm saving them for later," The narrator smirked, "Because I have something planned for them."

"You're so evil." Shizuka had a little sweat-droplet on her head.

"I know!" The narrator had an evil smirk plastered on his face, "Evil, evil, evil should REIGN!" His smirk slowly turned into a manic laughter, "MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Shizuka was talking to her pink cell-phone, "Um, Hello, mental ward?" She had numerous sweat droplets around her head, "There's someone here whose going mentally disturbed."

* * *

Deep inside the ruin left undisturbed in ages within the small island, six teenagers were walking inside the dark hallway with no source of light except given by flashlights carried by the teenagers. The bright fake light had shown the intruders the crumbling floors and corroded stone walls. The hallway seemed like it would collapsed any second because there were numerous piles of rocks that fell from the rotten ceilings. Joining the mess were bats and cow webs inhabited by nocturnal spiders.

Tsubaki's eyes blinked in confusion as he glanced around while holding the flashlight.

Izumi noticed Tsubaki's confusion and asked, "What's wrong, Tsubaki?"

"I thought I just heard some evil psycho laughter that made me felt like we're all going to die in this creepy place." Tsubaki's eyes glanced in each direction. He then stared at Rad with suspicion.

Rad blinked in confusion, "Why are you staring at me?"

Tsubaki still looked at him suspiciously, "Well, you're a psycho plus you laugh a lot…"

"And you thought it was me?" Rad laughed, "Ha! Ha! Ha! I wish I could do an evil laughter. I could be in play as a villain or something evil like that."

Izumi looked at him questioningly with a sweat droplet behind her head, "I think you're just imagining it. All the dust here is going to your head," She faced Alexander's back, "Right, Alex?"

"Hmmm, I don't know, Tsubaki might be right." Alexander gave a scary chuckle while his back was still toward the Osiris Red students.

Rad looked at Tsubaki, "Told you it wasn't me."

"Quiet!" Tsubaki gulped, "I don't like the sound of this."

Izumi suddenly shivered as she doesn't like the sound of his chuckle. She gulped too and questioned, "Alex?"

"You might never know," Alexander had some black mysterious aura surrounding his body, "Someone could die here." Alexander chuckled evilly.

Izumi had numerous sweat droplets pouring all over her head out of fear and she dared to ask, "Alex?"

Tsubaki had the same expression as Izumi and he gulped again, "Um, dude, are you alright? I mean I know you're little insane but you're still sane, right? I mean we're not going to die, right?" Tsubaki laughed nervously.

"Right, Tsubaki!" Izumi laughed nervously too.

"Oh people will die…." Alexander suddenly looked back with a bloody torn hockey mask and Psycho theme was playing in the background, "STARTING WITH YOU!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tsubaki and Izumi both screamed at the same time as they hugged each other.

"WOW!" Rad exclaimed, "Nice mask! How do you get such details?"

SMACK! BANG! POW!

Suddenly all three students were crouching on the dark floor holding their heads in pain because of the large bumps. Rebecca was standing behind them with glowing glasses and smoking haisen in her hands.

Shizuka had a giant sweat droplet behind her head as she stood next to Rebecca, "That was sort of mean."

Rebecca frowned and shouted, "You guys are idiots! I thought I told you to be quiet!" She glared at Alexander, "Von Schroeder! This is no place to be messing around!"

Alexander just laughed as he removed the mask from his face, "Sorry, Instructor. Oh, I can't breathe," He laughed even more as he held his chest, "Their expressions are so priceless!"

Tsubaki and Izumi's forehead veins twitched at the same time and they glared at Alexander with red angry eyes and sharp teeth. They yelled at the same time, "ALEX!"

Alexander just laughed even more.

Rebecca just sighed out of frustration as she held her head. She couldn't understand why she had to watch over students in this dangerous place or even leading them to this place.

Shizuka noticed Rebecca's frustration and asked, "Guys, do you think you could stop playing around? After all, we are searching for Yuki, right?"

Izumi stopped shouting at Alexander and looked at Shizuka, "You're right. Yuki is in here somewhere and we gotta find him."

"And for treasure!" Tsubaki clenched his fists with gem signs in his eyes.

Izumi just delivered a mean uppercut that sent Tsubaki flying and there was a large neon sign behind her that said WOMEN POWER! She yelled, "Is treasure seriously all you ever think about?"

The narrator blinked at the large Neon sign and pouted, "How rude."

Izumi glared at the narrator and smacked her fists, "Do you wanna mess with me?"

The narrator had a giant sweat droplet and looked away, "Never mind."

Izumi glared at Rad with a threatening face, "How about you, Rad? Gonna say you wanna beat Yuki?"

Rad sweat-dropped as he stepped away from her, "Um no, I'm good."

Rebecca sighed annoyingly, "Let's just go. We better be back at the Academy before anyone notices that we're missing." She walked forward with her flashlight.

Shizuka was the last person to follow. She was in deep thoughts because she had hidden shivers in her body. She didn't shiver because of the cold but because of something else. Shizuka couldn't identify this familiar feeling, _'I know I felt this before.' _She clenched her fist above her chest,_ 'I have a very bad feeling about this.'  
_  
Izumi cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Yuki! Where are you?"

Rad helped out, "Come out wherever you are, Yuki!"

Tsubaki did the same thing but he yelled different things instead, "Treasure!"

Izumi glared at him with disappointed look.

Tsubaki raised his arms and shrugged, "What? I can't help it."

"Greed can be very deadly," Alexander commented, "But curiosity should be fine."

"Does that mean?" Tsubaki wanted to make sure he understood what Alexander was saying.

Alexander smiled, "I can't help it but be curious about what treasure lie underneath the ruin."

"Alright!" Tsubaki clenched his fists as sign of celebration and he grinned, "He's on the same team as me!"

"Ohhhh," Izumi frowned. She grabbed Rad's shoulder and pulled him to her side, "Well, at least Rad is on the same team as me! Right, Rad?"

Rad blinked, "I just wanna beat Yuki in his game."

Izumi countered, "Which is looking for him anyway, true or not true?"

Rad shrugged, "True…"

Rebecca just rolled her eyes and scolded, "We're not here for the lousy stinky treasure!" She glared at the boys with punishing eyes, "We're here to get that bratty student and leave this place already!"

Tsubaki blinked as he was confused about Rebecca's outburst. He slowly realized and smirked, "Awww, is the cute little girl scared of this place?"

Rebecca blushed intensely red out of embarrassment. She snapped, "Cute? Little? I'm the same age as you!" She crossed her arms and looked away, "I'm not afraid of this little place! I have gone through more dangers than you in the past!"

Tsubaki's smirk grew wider, "Then how come your legs are shaking?" He pointed to Rebecca's legs shivering.

Rebecca blushed even brighter but frowned, "Shut up!"

Alexander just laughed softly as he watched the bicker between two teenagers. He noticed Izumi was in thoughts and asked, "Thinking about Yuki?"

Izumi snapped out of her thoughts and glanced at Alexander, "Hmm, yeah…I was just wondering…" She touched her chin with her finger, "What if Yuki is with the treasure?"

The question hooked Tsubaki's attention as he suddenly rushed to Izumi and grabbed her uniform's collar. He pulled her closer with his face very close to her, "What? What did you say?"

"She said," Rad repeated, "Um…what if Yuki is with the treasure?"

Izumi had a giant sweat droplet, "Tsubaki…you're scaring me…"

Tsubaki let her go and snapped with eyes on fire, "That cold hearted stiff bastard ain't getting my treasure!" Tsubaki suddenly dashed off with his legs as wheels, "We better find him before he finds the treasure!"

Rad laughed as he chased after Tsubaki, "Ha! Ha! Ha! This is getting more exciting!"

Izumi just turned white as she stared at them as they were born idiot. She realized that she was just standing around and went after them, "Hey, guys! Don't forget about me!"

Alexander smiled as he quickly followed them.

Rebecca was about to follow them but she noticed that Shizuka haven't say anything. She looked back toward Shizuka who was in deep thinking. Rebecca knew that Shizuka was a quiet girl but not this quiet. She knew that something was up and she intended to find it, "Shizuka-san, what's wrong?"

Shizuka raised her head as her name was called. She saw Rebecca and answered as she waved her hands, "Oh, nothing's wrong."

Of course, Rebecca doesn't really believe it. She raised her left eye in suspicion, telling Shizuka that she doesn't believe her.

Shizuka gulped but she finally answered, "I was just thinking about how this adventure is similar to the adventures we have with "him.""

Rebecca blinked in surprise and moved her eyes, "Well I guess you're right. Although we're not together and haven't met at that time, each of us did have an adventure with "him." Heh," Rebecca closed her eyes as she remembered the fond past, "I can remember all the dangers I used to go with Darling."

Shizuka nodded in agreement in her side. Of course she would remember the Battle City, the Battle Ship, Virtual Reality, and the tower because that was when her eyes were cured and she had removed her bandages.

"Come on, let's stop dwelling in the past and let's get this over with." Rebecca hurried after the students.

"Hai." Shizuka agreed but suddenly she received the same chills that sent shivers through her bones and gave her goose bumps, _'Not again…I hope we leave this place soon…I don't like this.'_

* * *

Further inside the ruin, the cold Osiris Red student was walking in the deeper part of the ruin. Hours had past inside the ruins and Kurai was still walking with his uniform dusty and torn up. He pondered to himself, _'Why did I ever come here in the first place?'_

He kept asking himself that question and each time he asked himself, he plagued his mind with the memories of the loss against Kaiser at the promotion exam.

"Cyber Cerberus, burn them all with Eternal Damnation!"

The deadly three-headed mechanical dog easily destroyed both of Kurai's mercenaries with the power of flames from its three mouths. Because of that guardian of Hell, Kurai had lost. He suddenly punched the wall so hard that his knuckles were bleeding and he gritted his teeth, "Damnit!" He really hate losing especially losing to that particular rival he aimed to beat. He cursed to himself, "I lost. I fucking lost!" He punched the wall again as he felt pathetically weak. After punching the wall, he groaned as he sat with his back facing the wall. He was exhausted from walking for hours in this dark place. He sighed out of tiredness, ignoring the throbbing pain from his bleeding knuckles. He rested his head against the rotten wall and closed his eyes slowly.

* * *

Somewhere in the small city, two little boys, one with brown hair and the other with dark blue hair, were dueling with each other. Both boys had duel disks that came from the Battle City on their arms. The dueling Field was empty except one tall green-muscular monster with white lone feather wing on its left of the back of his body. He had a left green muscular arm while his right arm was red and contained the head of the dragon with black and red colors mixed. His head shape resembled a thin seed and it contained a curved horn on the top of it. The monster was on the brown-haired boy's side of the Field while the blue-haired boy's side remained empty.

The brown-haired boy grinned as he ordered his monster, "E-Hero Flame Wingman, attack my enemy directly!" The monster suddenly jumped high above his master and aimed his dragon head toward the blue-haired boy. The dragon head cracked open and sent a hot jet of orange flames that burned away the rest of the blue-haired boy's Life Points away.

The holograms disappeared and the blue-haired boy whined out of disappointment, "Aww man, I lost."

The brown-haired boy grinned with victory and he did his signature victory sign, "That was fun!"

The blue-haired boy sighed as he shrugged off the brown-haired boy's ridiculous victory dance, "You're really good!"

"Aww, thanks. I just wanted to have fun." The brown haired boy rubbed the back of his head out of embarrassment.

"At this rate, you'll be the top duelist in no time." The blue haired boy commented but looked down, "I'm not good as you."

The brown-haired boy smacked the blue haired boy's head and grinned, "Come on! Don't say that! I'm sure you'll be awesome too! No, I know you'll be awesome! And when you do that, we'll be awesome together!" He laughed out of joy.

The blue-haired boy rubbed his head but smiled, "Hai."

* * *

Kurai slowly woke up and groaned as he rubbed his head. He remembered the dream of his childhood and narrowed his eyes into hatred. He muttered to himself, "Yeah right." He stood up and continued walking forward into the ruin.

* * *

Izumi looked at every ancient picture of the monsters shown in Duel Monsters cards as she continued to walk forward. She asked the professor, "How come the ruins have Duel Monsters if the Duel Monsters card game is like new instead of Ancient?"

Rebecca answered, "That's because Duel Monsters are ancient."

Tsubaki was surprised, "Ehhhhh? They are? I thought this crazy Pegasus dude is the one who created the game."

Alexander explained, "Pegasus is the founder of the game but he founded Duel Monsters in the ruins of Egypt and that's how he came up with the idea."

Rebecca interrupted him, "Duel Monsters were three thousand years old, maybe even older. They were used in duels between priests in old Egypt."

Alexander finished it up, "Thus Pegasus used the idea of duels to create a popular card game." He ignored Rebecca's glare for stealing her spotlight.

Izumi gaped, "Wow, I never knew that. You learn something new everyday in the Duel Academy."

Rad pointed out, "Actually, you learn this during your first week of dueling class. You weren't there but I'm kinda surprised that Tsubaki didn't remember it."

"Well, I know history is important but that doesn't have to do anything with the present card game now," Tsubaki complained, "Man, if I find it first, I would have been rich instead of that senile old man."

Shizuka was staring at the familiar monster plastered on the wall, "Isn't this Blue Eyes White Dragon?"

Both Osiris Red students asked, "Huh?" They came to look at the wall too.

Rebecca also looked at the old drawing of the white dragon with blue diamond eyes and stone wings, "You're right. This is the Egyptian drawing of the Blue Eyes White Dragon."

"Not only that," Alexander walked forward toward the wall, "This is the dead end."

"What?" Izumi touched the wall and groaned, "Isn't there another way in?"

Rad glanced around, "Maybe there's another passageway?"

"But there was only one passageway." Shizuka pointed out.

Tsubaki was staring at the thick blue diamond eye on the drawing of the white dragon. He thought to himself, _'I wonder if this is valuable. I better get it before we leave.'_

"If there's only one passageway and a dead end, it means No Yuki!" Rebecca was about to walk forward.

"Now hold on." Alexander stopped her, "I think we should wait a little longer." He smirked.

Rebecca was annoyed, "Why? It's obvious that Yuki is not in this ruin. Now let's leave before something creepy might come."

Alexander smiled with his eyes closed, "When you say something creepy, do you mean me? As for your first question, it wouldn't be hidden ruin, if there's no trap."

Tsubaki touched the blue diamond on the wall, "Trap?" Suddenly the blue diamond glowed and suddenly the floor split open, making everyone fell, "!"

Izumi cried, "Tsubaki, this is all your fault!" She tried to pull her skirt down so she wouldn't reveal her personal belonging as she was falling.

Tsubaki complained, "How is this my fault? Alex knew about it!"

Alexander just smiled, "Now if I really knew about it, I wouldn't fall with you, wouldn't I?"

Tsubaki twitched, "You're such a sadistic freak." He resumed screaming, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

Gabriel slid down the steep hills with his boots. As he was near the bottom, he jumped down to safety. He instantly sighted the ruins in front of him. He then kneeled down to touch the ground. Tyrell jumped too and landed behind Gabriel, "We finally made it! I gotta give these kids some credits. They got guts if they're bold enough to face danger."

Gabriel analyzed the footprints on the soil, "The footprints are still fresh. We're not far behind them."

"Not that far, huh?" Tyrell sounded disappointed, "Damn, I was hoping we could catch them at the bottom and see what the ruins hiding."

"Curiosity kills the cat." Gabriel walked ahead.

"I'm just saying it!" Tyrell followed him.

* * *

Izumi groaned as she opened her eyes slowly. When she fully opened her eyes, she saw that she was facing the human skull. She gulped and screamed, "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Her high pitched scream caused everyone to wake up.

Tsubaki quickly woke up, "WHAT? WHAT? IS IT A FIRE? IS IT A TREASURE?" Then he noticed many skeletons lying on the ground and he screamed, "AHHHHH! " He jumped on the nearest person's arms and wrapped his arms around that person's neck.

Alexander sweat-dropped but remained smiling while holding Tsubaki, "Welcome back to reality, Tsubaki."

Izumi was in tears as she stepped back away from the skeletons, "Oh My God, this place is really dangerous!"

Rad picked up one skull and looked at it with a clueless face, "Wow, for a game, they sure put a lot details into it."

Tsubaki snapped, "HOW DENSE CAN YOU BE?"

Shizuka held her mouth to keep herself from throwing up, "This must be the construction workers we heard about." She pointed out the dirty torn uniforms around the skeletons.

Rebecca glared at Tsubaki, "YOU IDIOT! WHY DO YOU TOUCH THAT DIAMOND?" She was furious.

Tsubaki had a sweat drop on his forehead. He explained, "Um…because I'm greedy?"

"ARGHHHHHHHH!" Rebecca grabbed her head out of frustration.

Alexander dropped Tsubaki and replied, "If it wasn't for Tsubaki's mistake, we wouldn't find out about this place."

Rebecca glared at Alexander, "Because of Tsubaki's mistake, we're now in more danger. Who knows what traps are waiting for us?"

Izumi pointed to another direction, "You mean that trap?"

Rebecca blinked in confusion, "Huh? What do you mean?"

Shizuka had white teary eyes and she was shaking, "She meant a giant steel ball that is going to flatten us if we don't run now."

"OH!" Rebecca understood and then she ran off instantly, leaving a cloud of herself, and the others quickly followed too.

Tsubaki ran, "WHY IS THERE A GIANT STEEL BALL CHASING US?"

Rad laughed and ran as he was having fun, "Wow, this is like Indiana Jones the movie!"

Izumi was crying as she kept running, "I JUST WANT TO BE BACK IN THE DORM!"

Alexander was running too, "Oh come on, what's life without excitement and adventure?"

Both Osiris Red students looked at Alexander strangely and replied at the same time, "A SAFE LIFE!"

"Um watch out," Alexander warned.

"Huh?" Both Osiris Red students asked and suddenly they nearly fell into holes on the floor, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" They both hugged each other.

Shizuka exclaimed, "The floors are collapsing!"

"OH GREAT!" Rebecca yelled sarcastically. The floors were made out of square tiles and each of them began to fall as they continued to run forward.

* * *

Below the ruins, Kurai felt the ruin rumbling, "Huh?" He narrowed his eyes and he jumped out of the way as the pillar from the ceiling came crashing down. Kurai groaned, "Great…..of all times, you just have to start now." More pillars came crashing down and Kurai quickly got up to avoid them, "I'll have to run!" He ran as he avoided numerous stone pillars.

* * *

Izumi screamed, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHY IS THERE ARROWS? I HATE SHOOTING ARROWS!" They avoided shooting arrows.

Few minutes later, Izumi screamed again, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHY IS THERE FLAMETHROWERS? I HATE FLAMETHROWERS!" They avoided the statues that shoot fire from their mouths.

Couple of minutes later, Izumi yelled again, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHY IS THERE BUGS? I HATE FLESH-EATING BUGS!" Our young heroes had to avoid giant killer insects.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHY IS THERE ALLIGATORS! I HATE LIMB-EATING ALLIGATORS!" Alligators were chasing them with their snapping jaws.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHY IS THERE FLYING PIGS! I HATE…" Izumi blinked in confusion, "Flying pigs?" Pigs were flying around inside the ruin, "Well, this is not really scary but strange."

Suddenly the pigs glared at them with red angry demonic eyes and sharp razor teeth.

Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched, "You just have to jinx us, Izumi…."

Izumi had a giant sweat droplet and then ran away screaming, "I HATE MAN-EATING FLYING PIGS!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Kurai was gasping as he was trying to avoid every single one of the death traps. It was a good thing that he was athletic or otherwise, he would lose his life at very young age. Kurai kept running as the traps continued to assaulted him one by one. He muttered to himself, "Is this some test?" He avoided the rising spears and jumped away from the falling pillars. He smirked, "Is this all you got?" He yelled at the ruin, "This is way too easy!" He ran down the hallway, thinking to himself, 'I will do anything to defeat that person.' He narrowed his amber eyes, 'Anything!' That's when everything ended for him, a trap hole opened right below him. Kurai's eyes widened in shock as his arrogance became his downfall. He slowly plummeted with his hand stretched toward his impossible goal but it was too late for him. The end had come for him.

* * *

In another part of the trap-ridden ruin, the others finally avoided all possible traps and took the chance to rest.

Izumi was panting, "From now on, I'm going to work out more to increase my stamina."

Tsubaki groaned, "I just learned that my life is too short and I need to try out all kinds of pizza."

Izumi looked at Tsubaki strangely, "Where did that come from?"

Alexander smiled as usual, "I think that was a great warm up."

"OH SHUT UP!" Both Osiris Red students yelled at him at the same moment.

"Wooooh!" Rad whooped, "That was awesome! It was such an extreme thrill! Let's go through that again!"

Both Osiris Red students yelled at him too, "NO WAY!"

Rebecca's forehead had many twitching veins, showing as a sign of a volcano is going to explode. Rebecca spoke demonically with a scary tone, "Yuki better be here! I do not come here after following three troublemakers and avoided all these killer traps just to find Yuki not here!"

Izumi had a giant sweat droplet coming out of her head because of fear running through her blood. She panicked, "Yuki will be here! He is here! I'm sure he is!"

"Even if he's not, there's still that treasure!" Tsubaki exclaimed happily.

POW!

Tsubaki was sulking in the corner with a large red bump on his head, "You're mean!" He glared at Izumi who had smoke coming from her clenched fist.

Shizuka shivered as she rubbed her arms to warm herself. She thought to herself, _'This haunting feeling is getting stronger than ever. I don't like this. I never felt this cold before except…my brother…'_ She gasped as she realized.

"The only thing left to do is to open this door." Tsubaki stared at the large stone door, "I don't think I can open it alone."

"I'll help." Rad walked up to the stone door, "We'll both push at the same time!"

"Alright, teamwork!" Tsubaki yelled.

Shizuka looked up at the stone door and she suddenly saw two dark shadowy eyes glaring at her. She gasped and it disappeared in a flash.

"Shizuka?" Rebecca was concerned, "Is something wrong?"

Shizuka gasped and panicked, "Wait! Don't open the door!"

The two students pushed the door opened and immediately, black icy cold winds came out at them like sharks with blood lust hunger.

Izumi screamed out of fear as she tried to brace the wind, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Tsubaki covered his eyes with his arms, "What the hell is this!"

Rad groaned as he tried to brace it, "It's freezing cold!"

Rebecca stared on with her glasses, "This is…"

The icy winds took away their conscious and they all soon fell to the ground, losing their sanity to the darkness.

Shizuka instantly snapped her eyes open and gasped at the unwelcoming sight of the pitch blackness. She quickly stood up and saw that she was in a dimension with many bizarre dark colors blended together creating creepy results that would sent nightmares to poor little kids. The Ra Yellow student was filling many shivers through every bone in her body. She asked herself, "Where am I?"

A sinister voice echoed through the dark dimension, "In my realm, intruder."

Shizuka gasped as she jumped out of fear, "Whose there?"

The voice continued to speak, "Who said you can ask questions? I should be asking, lowlifes who dare intrude upon my home. Are you thieves who lust for riches?"

Shizuka whined but she took a tiny stand, "We're not thieves. We're just looking for someone!"

"It does not matter," The voice spoke icily, "You intrude upon the tomb and thus you will take the punishment!" Three black flames appeared out of nowhere and Shizuka just screamed. Suddenly the flames disappeared, revealing two girls and two guys covered in black slimy tentacles that wrapped around them tightly. Their eyes and mouths were covered by the tentacles along.

Shizuka gasped with her eyes widened in shock, "Rebecca-san! Izumi-san! Tsubaki-kun! Rad-san! This is…like..the Dark Game…the one where Miss Mai and onii-san went through." She glared at the voice even though it's not possible, "What have you done to them?"

The voice laughed evilly, "I'm torturing them slowly. With these tentacles, I'm slowly draining their life each second."

"Let them go!" Shizuka demanded.

"Why should I?" The voice scowled, "They're the one who dare interrupt the eternal rest. You will be punished too!" Tentacles quickly rose from the dark dimension and tried to capture Shizuka but the tentacles vanished instantly before touching her, "What?" The voice sounded shocked, "Why couldn't it touch you?"

Shizuka was shocked too as she doesn't understand what was really going on.

"I see," The voice sounded angry, "Now I understand. You are the sibling of that duelist that I'm unfortunate to know."

Shizuka gasped, "You know onii-san!"

"I notice you have a deck," Shizuka's deck floated from her belt, "So you're a duelist just like your own brother, I wonder how you fare." The voice chuckled.

"My deck!" Shizuka tried to grab it but she gasped as she saw something with yellow glowing eyes coming out of the shadows of the dimension.

The owner of the eyes proposed, "I like to see how well you can duel."

"Duel?" Shizuka asked.

"Duel. If you win, I'll let your friends go. If you lose, you will pay with your own life." The owner laughed, "This is the only way that I'll make sure you lose your pathetic life."

Shizuka glared with renowned determination, "I accept!"

"Good!" The shadow with yellow eyes came out. It was a gray demon monster with human body and the lower body of a snake but the snake's head was the tail. Its head contained scars across its yellow eyes with four razor horns. One on its chin, two on the sides, and one was on the forehead. Shizuka immediately recognize the monster as Diabound from Duel Monsters, "I'll use this body for this duel." Shizuka remembered how the Big Five used monsters as their bodies in the Noa's Virtual Reality. The monster's own deck appeared out of nowhere and it was floating like Shizuka's deck. The demon monster glared and spoke without its lips moving, "Let the Dark Game begins." Bright glowing numbers made out of smoke appeared above each duelist, presenting their life points.

Suddenly five cards were drawn from the floating decks and became huge and surrounded the front view of the owners. (Like the Duelist Kingdom Arc when Yugi and Kaiba fought each other on Pegasus's castle) The Diabound yelled, "I'll go first. DRAW!" The sixth card floated out of the deck and appeared in front of the monster, "I summon The Portrait's Secret [**M1 (4/1200/1500)**] in attack mode!" The monster stretched his hand toward a card and the card immediately came to the Field, revealing a portrait of an old man until suddenly a nasty sullen face with black hair defying gravity came out of the portrait. He had white blank eyes and his mouth seemed to be sewed together. His bones only arms with rotten skins came out at the bottom of the portrait, "I end my turn."

Shizuka thought to herself, _'That's all? I wonder what he's planning?'_ She yelled, "Draw!" A card floated and added to her hand. She stared at the Hand and pointed to one card, "I summon Cure Mermaid [**M2 (4/1500/800)**] in attack position!" The card revealed the picture and suddenly a gush of water popped out of the card. The water cleared, revealing a beautiful pampered girl with a bright pink blouse that had fin-like collars around her shoulder and waist. She also wore long pink gloves that nearly covered her arms and a necklace around her neck. She contained a gold tiara above her long sleek golden hair. She had red fins as her ears and a large red-scaled tail as her lower half of the body, "Cure Mermaid, attack The Portrait's Secret with Bubble Hearts!" Shizuka declared as the princess mermaid covered her mouth with her hand and then gave a kiss that formed a bubble shaped like a heart. Suddenly many heart-shaped bubbles struck the portrait like a pillar, drenching it.

**Diabound: 4000 – 300 = 3700. Shizuka: 4000.**

Shizuka picked another floating card, "I set one card face down!" The floating card became face-down behind the mermaid, "I finished!"

Diabound yelled with a frozen expression, "Draw." The card was taken out of the floating deck, "I summon The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams [**M3 (4/1300/1800)**] in Defense." A large wooden bed with blue blanket above an innocent dreamer appeared out of the darkness. Suddenly the dreamer shouted out of fear as he was having a nightmare and a moss-green ugly human-like ghost came out of his mouth with long pink curly hair. The ghost had a circular brown shield in his hand and a sword in his other hand, "I end my turn."

Shizuka declared, "I activate my face-down card, Solemn Wishes!" [**T1**] Her card revealed a red-haired woman in a white dress, standing below shining showers over the white wasteland, "This trap card allow me to gain five hundred life points for each card I draw!" The top card floated out of her deck and she gained life points.

**Diabound: 3700. Shizuka: 4000 + 500 = 4500.**

"Now this is my standby phase thus my Cure Mermaid's effect activates!" Shizuka yelled as the Mermaid created a pink heart-shaped bubble that floated toward Shizuka's Life Points above the duelist, "When Cure Mermaid is face-up on the Field, I gain eight hundred Life Points during my Standby Phase."

**Diabound: 3700. Shizuka: 4500 + 800 = 5300.**

Shizuka looked at her opponent's monster, _'So now he's on the defense. An 1800 Defense though. What is he planning?'_ She selected two cards and they glowed brightly under her choice, "I summon Dancing Fairy [**M4 (4/1700/1000)**] in offense!" Three little adorable fairies popped out of the glowing card. Each fairy had an adorable colored clear eyes and tiny cute angelic wings over their small white robe. Each fairy had different hairstyles, long sleek brown hair, smooth short trimmed red hair, and maroon pig tail.

Diabound chuckled evilly, "Your monsters cannot defeat the powerful defense of my monster. You called yourself a duelist?"

Shizuka narrowed her eyes and replied, "It's true that my monsters cannot defeat your defense monster however I didn't play my magic card," She pointed to the second glowing card, "I played a Magic Card, Holy Crown Shield!" [**S1**] The second glowing card revealed a picture of a beautiful white shield with short golden wings. All over the shield were golden spikes and in the center was a huge round ruby eye. There was also steel chain connected to the bottom of the Shield, "I equip this card on my Dancing Fairy, increasing her ATK by five hundred!" The white Shield came out of the glowing card but it was changing since the Dancing Fairy was in attack mode. The shield slowly changed into a huge spiked mace ball with chain. The three adorable fairies grabbed the chain and easily lifted the heavy spiked ball with teamwork. [**Dancing Fairy ATK: 1700 + 500 = 2200**]

Shizuka announced her move, "Dancing Fairy, attack the enemy with Holy Crown Shield!" The fairies yelled in chorus as they spin the ball in numerous circles, making their power stronger by each revolution. They suddenly stopped spinning as they gained dizzy eyes. The spiked ball smashed the bed, destroying the dreamer and the ghost, "Cure Mermaid, attack my opponent directly with Bubble Hearts!" The Mermaid giggled snobbishly as she created a pillar of heart-shaped bubbles that struck the monster, washing away the Life Points.

**Diabound: 3700 – 1500 = 2200. Shizuka: 5300.**

Diabound had no comments as his Life Points were decreasing. "I end my turn," Shizuka explained, "Since I ended my turn and I destroyed a monster as the result of battle with my Dancing Fairy because of the Holy Crown Shield, my Dancing Fairy switch into defense mode. Also because of the magic card, my Dancing Fairy's defense increased by a thousand." [**Dancing Fairy DEF: 1000 + 1000 = 2000**] The spiked ball slowly changed back into the white shield. The three fairies flied around it and then hid behind the giant shield with their small bodies.

"Draw!" Diabound's eyes glowed as the top card of his deck floated and added to the monster's Hand. He selected one card, "I summon Headless Knight [**M5 (4/1450/1700)**] in Defense." A headless Knight emerged into the Field, adorned in silver armor filled with golden lines around the edges. It had clear blue orbs on the knees and elbows. It even had blue orbs connected to its silver shoulder pads, keeping its sleek red cape connected. The headless knight possessed a large broad white sword with golden handle with blue orb in the center. In its other hand, the knight contained a curved triangular shield with golden linens around the edge and blue orb in the center. The knight crouched on its knee with its shield up and its sword erect, "I end my turn."

Shizuka was suspicious of her opponent's actions, _'No face down cards? What is he seriously planning? But this felt so familiar.'_ The top card floated out of her deck, "I draw and because of Solemn Wishes, I gained five hundred Life points!" Her trap card glowed and white rain showered on her Life Points.

**Diabound: 2200. Shizuka: 5300 + 500 = 5800.**

"Now that it is my standby phase, Cure Mermaid's effect activates!" Shizuka pointed to her Cure Mermaid that gave a heart-shaped bubble to her Life Points.

**Diabound: 2200. Shizuka: 5800 + 800 = 6600.**

"But that's not all," Shizuka continued as she pointed to her Dancing Fairy in defense, "When my Dancing Fairy is in face-down defense mode, I gain a thousand Life Points!" The fairies left the Shield behind as they flied around Shizuka, spreading pollens from sweet-scented flowers.

**Diabound: 2200. Shizuka: 6600 + 1000 = 7600.**

Shizuka ordered, "Then I switch my Dancing Fairy into Attack mode!" The shield became the chained spiked ball again and the fairies picked the chain effortlessly, "Dancing Fairy, crush the Headless Knight!" The fairies spin the spiked ball again and cheered as they stopped spinning, letting the spiked ball crushed the Headless Knight's armor into flattened pieces, "Cure Mermaid, attack him directly!" The Mermaid sent a river of hearts at Diabound.

**Diabound: 2200 – 1500 = 700. Shizuka: 7600.**

Shizuka thought to herself, _'I'll check him out by baiting him.'_ She picked a card, "I summon Spirit of the Breeze [**M6 (3/0/1800)**] in attack mode!" A beautiful green-skinned girl with closed serene eyes arrived on the Field with the aid of the wind. She had long shining blue hair. She wore a long yellow robe that seemed to blow gently with the breeze. She had yellow oval-shaped wings behind her back, "I end my turn and my Dancing Fairy switch to Defense mode due to the Holy Crown Shield!" The Fairies hid behind the white Shield again.

Diabound chuckled and then laughed manically with his unmoving lips, "Foolish girl, you fell right into my trap! Say hello to the underworld!" His eyes glowed as the top card of his deck floated into his hand, "I remove three demon-type monsters from the Graveyard to special summon DARK NECROPHIA! [**M7 (8/2200/2800)**] A pillar of black fire rose from the Field, sending a wave of heat that chilled instead of warmed. Shizuka braced the chills as she continued to stare at the Field. She gasped as she saw the pillar of fire disappeared, revealing a dark blue skinned woman that had a chilling aura surrounding her. She wore skimpy armor over her chest and purple leather glove on her left hand and curved pants around her legs. She held a baby doll with emotionless eyes and broken head, adding the creepiness to the scary factor of the monster.

Shizuka finally remembered this duel as the memory of her brother's best friend fought against this monster. She muttered, "Dark Necrophia." She whispered the name as the card was a demon of her nightmare.

* * *

At the bottom of the ruin, there was a pit where an unfortunate duelist had fallen into it. At the very bottom of the pit were sharp spikes, so sharp that the pointy end were glittering under the faint light. However spikes were not the only things, ancient skeletons inhabited the pits. A rat was crawling out of the eye socket, showing that live rats made homes out of the skeletons. Bones were scattered all over because the rats ate their flesh and muscles, dragging their bones all over. What's strange was that there was no fresh meat for them or fresh blood pouring above the dried blood of deceased ones. Then a faint rock tumbled over the spikes. The rat noticed the slight noise and looked up, just to see an Osiris Red student hanging on to the edge of the pit with a lone hand. It was Kurai who was using all his strength to save himself from the death below. Kurai groaned, "Like Hell, I'm going to let myself die in this rotten place." He yelled as he pulled himself up. He hanged on to the floor titles really tight with his upper half of the body lying on the floor, "Almost there." He looked up and his amber eyes widened in shock. The duelist's eyes were staring directly at round mean looking eyes that seemed so familiar to Kurai. His eyes increased in size as he saw the eyes belonged to a round furry ball with devil-like wings. He spoke the owner's name, "Yami Kuriboh?"

Yami Kuriboh flapped its tiny devil-like wings as he growled the famous Kuriboh saying. Then everything just happened in a flash. Out of pure shock, Kurai let go of his hold to the floor and fell into the plunging darkness of the pit, lost forever.

**

* * *

TBC**

**Izumi: **Oh my God! Did Yuki just fell into the pit?

**Tsubaki: **Hey.

**Izumi: **Did Yuki die? We have to save Yuki!

**Tsubaki: **Hey, Izumi!

**Izumi: **What? We have to save Yuki!

**Tsubaki: **We should be more worried about ourselves right now!

**Izumi: **…you mean the fact we are being raped by creepy slimy tentacles?

**Tsubaki: **…Do you have to say it like that? No, something even worse!

**Izumi: **Something even worse?

**Tsubaki: **….this is….OUR last duo appearance in this episode preview!

**Izumi: **EHHHHH? OUR LAST DUO APPEARANCE? Why?

**Tsubaki: **Well, we reached the thirteenth episode, usually when anime reach that number, openings and endings change.

**Izumi twitched: **That's only for 26 or 52 episodes series! We're a long shounen series!

**Tsubaki sniffled: **We can't change the author's mind….

**Izumi: **Well if this is going to be our last preview, we might as well do it with a bang!

**Tsubaki: **Well, actually…we kinda waste our entire preview on this.

**Izumi: **What? NO! START OVER!

**Yami Kuriboh** **growled**: KWE!

**Izumi and Tsubaki blinked and glanced at each other:**…What was that?

**Next Episode:** **The Secret of the Ruins**

**Izumi shook Tsubaki roughly: **WHO'S REPLACING US?

**Tsubaki was dizzy eyed: **I DON'T KNOW!

**

* * *

Card of the Day – Dark Necrophia**

**Alexander: **Another good classic card used by quite a famous duelist in the Battle City Arc. One can say it's that duelist's signature card. It made me quite wonder if Miss Shizuka is facing him.

**Izumi: **Alex? Can it be something else…like Dancing Fairies? Why does it have to be that scary card?

**Alexander: **That's precisely why I chose that card. I want to see your fearful expression. **::he smiled::**

**Izumi: **….you're a very very very cruel man. You have to choose a scary card on my last day as a commentator of an episode preview.

**Alexander: **Well…

**Izumi: **…well, what?

**::Alexander just looked away::**

**Izumi: **…IT'S OUR LAST DAY HERE TOO?

**Alexander smiled: **To be more precise, it's your last day. Next episode, I get to scare another victim.

**Izumi: **….I thought I would be upset but actually, I'm very glad.

**Alexander: **Oh Izumi, you hurt me so much. Well, then…I guess you'll become Dark Necrophia's baby.

**Izumi: **Dark….Necrophia's baby?

**Alexander:** You see….when someone break that person's heart….that broken-hearted person will call upon Dark Necrophia and make a contract with her. The person will give one order, "Make that person who break my heart suffer." And so Dark Necrophia did by turning that heartless person into a baby doll, suffering eternally.

**Izumi: **ALEX, you're such a wonderful guy! A REALLY WONDERFUL AND KIND PERSON!

**Alexander smirked: **That's better.

**

* * *

Cards Used in Duel**

**M1 - ****The Portrait's Secret: Earth/Demon/4/1200/1500**

**M2 - ****Cure Mermaid: Water/Fish/4/1500/800**: Effect: As long as this card remains face-up on your side of the field, increase your Life Points by 800 points during each of your Standby Phases.

**M3 - ****The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams: Dark/Demon/4/1300/1800**

**M4 - ****Dancing Fairy: Wind/Angel/4/1700/1000**: Effect: As long as this card remains in face-up Defense Position on your side of the field, increase your Life Points by 1000 points during each of your Standby Phases.

**M5 - ****Headless Knight: Earth/Demon/4/1450/1700**

**M6 - ****Spirit of the Breeze: Wind/Angel/3/0/1800**: Effect: As long as this card remains in face-up Attack Position on your side of the field, increase your Life Points by 1000 points during each of your Standby Phases.

**M7 - ****Dark** **Necrophia: Dark/Demon/8/2200/2800**: Effect: Remove 3 Demon Sub-Type monsters in your Graveyard from the game in order to Special Summon this Monster. If this card is destroyed by your opponent and it goes to the Cemetery, at the end of the turn this card becomes an Equipment card on an opponent's Monster. While this card is Equipped on it, you control that Monster

**T1 - ****Solemn Wishes - Continuous Trap**: Increase your Life Points by 500 points each time you draw a card (or cards).

**S1 - ****Holy Crown Shield – Equipment Spell**: Can only be equipped on Warrior, Spellcaster, or Angel Subtypes. Increase the monster's ATK by 500 when in face-up attack mode. Increase the monster's DEF by 1000 when in face-up defense mode. When a monster destroys a monster as the result of battle, this monster switch into defense mode at the End of the turn.


	25. 14A: The Secret of the Ruin

**Author's note: **Sorry! Sorry! I haven't update for weeks again. Three reasons for that! School, Work, and Arc Rise Fantasia! But I'm almost finished with that game! I just need to kill the final boss….and DAMN, the bosses in that game are so hard! One of the last bosses killed me four times before I finally killed it the fifth time! HA! HA! HA! Take that! Anyhow, my favorite character showed up in this chapter! If the Duel King get to make an appearance in GX, it's only fair that this one make an appearance in the other half of GX. I hope you enjoy reading it! Of course, we're still in Yugioh GX Episode 12's timeline.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh! Yeah, I'm keeping it short, I'm lazy.

**

* * *

Episode 14: The Secret of the Ruin**

"Goddamnit."

A pair of eyes snapped open; his vision was slowly restored to the owner of the amber eyes. His eyes slowly grew adjusted to a bizarre view of many stone statues set in rows decorated with untainted jewels and items made out of the purest gold of the world. A male teenager with dual-colored messy hair, dressed in Osiris Red uniform, was lying on a stone rectangular field that seemed to be floating above the black pit with no end in sight. The field was held by strong rusted support chains attached to the stone walls from each corner of the rectangle. He felt a throbbing pain on his body due to a large fall. He groaned as he rubbed his head and slowly stood up. He muttered, "What the hell?"

Kurai revolved around to get a better sight. The stone walls were decorated with duel monsters that had grotesque qualities, enough to send a person home with fright. The statues he saw moment ago were laid atop on the sides of the stone rectangular field. Kurai looked behind and saw stairs leading to a large sealed stone door. He quickly ran up the stairs and tried to push the door open but he couldn't, no matter how much strength he puts into his body. He cursed, "Damnit."

His eyes glanced around the large room, trying to find the exit but something caught his eyes. He diverted his attention to a large well-curved tomb on the other side of the room. From his eyes, Kurai could tell it was from Egypt because of the ancient pharaoh's designs. He could also tell that it was made from pure gold of the way how the tomb's beauty outshone all the vast piles of jewelries here. But Kurai was not Tsubaki, he had no care for riches and fame. His top priority was to get out of this place and find the so-called power that the mysterious duelist, Shadow mentioned.

The teenager walked down the stairs and into the stone field. Each step he made on this field created a slight creaking sound because the stone platform wasn't stable. He stood still in the middle, trying to comprehend the mistreated logic here. He spoke to himself, "I don't get it. The last thing I remember was…" He remembered that he fell into the pit filled with spikes. He should have died but yet he's still alive. Unless….Kurai grumbled to himself, "If this is Hell, I preferred the flaming pit."

"Kuri. Kuri." A high pitched sound echoed in Kurai's ears.

Kurai's amber eyes widened in shock as he heard that sound before. He knew he heard that sound. He searched deep inside his mind and he finally remembered a pair of large round eyes. The very eyes that made Kurai fell into the pits. He suddenly twisted his body around and he faced the very same round eyes.

The round eyes belonged to a floating furry ball with mean looking eyebrows on top of the round eyes. The creature had small claws and paws with small impish wings behind his back. Kurai instantly recognized the creature and whispered his name, "Yami Kuriboh…." He fell on his bottom as the stunned expression plastered across his face. It was a rare sight because Kurai was usually a cold person.

The flying furry ball glided toward Kurai with a single flap of its devil-like wings and spoke, "Kuri. Kuri."

Kurai was still shocked at the fact that a Duel Monster, A CARD, was talking to him. He thought to himself, _'what's going on? How can a card be speaking to me? Unless…I'm still in a dream,' _He pinched himself in the arm,_ 'Ouch…okay, it's not a dream…I knew it….When I stayed with those idiots, I bound to become an idiot…..It's contagious…'_

"Kuri. Kuri!" Yami Kuriboh kept following him but Kurai just backed away while still on the ground.

"This is not real. I'm just going crazy." Kurai kept backing up until his hand brushed something peculiar on the stone floor, "Huh?" He averted his eyes away from the flying demon to a familiar symbol. Kurai quickly stood up and saw a symbol right in the middle of the stone field. The symbol was the Millennium Eye. Kurai gasped as he recognized this dreadful symbol. Suddenly the Eye flashed inside his mind and Kurai groaned as he held his head. Yami Kuriboh quickly flied toward him. Kurai collapsed on his knees and yelled as the Millennium Eye continued to stay in his mind, leaving a burning print. In response, the Eye on the stone field started to glow brightly, giving yellow light around the dark room. As the Eye continued to glow bright, the tomb suddenly flashed.

Kurai's headache stopped but he heard a loud rumbling as something was opening. He moved his head up toward the noise as he saw the golden tomb opening, "Now what?" Suddenly Kurai felt his body warmth disappeared in a flash and replaced by a chill so haunting and cold that the sun cannot provide warmth. He braced the chills as he saw a black shadow coming out of the tomb and landed right near him. The shadow slowly formed a human-like appearance. Kurai could tell that the shadow was a man from the look of his body. The shadow had an average body with muscles like Kurai but had long straight hair that nearly touched the waistline of his shadowy body. However what made the shadow's hairstyle unique was two large bangs sticking out on the top of the shadow's head.

The shadow looked at his transparent arms and clenched his fists. Kurai doesn't really understand what's going on but he could tell that it was a spirit or possessed ghost. But ghosts were not supposed to be real but how could Kurai explain this stupid flying puff ball next to him. The shadow was speaking in some weird language that Kurai couldn't understand. Then the shadow spoke in another language and Kurai realized it was his nationality's language. Kurai muttered, 'He can speak Japanese?'

The shadow moved its transparent face toward Kurai and walked up to him.

Yami Kuriboh spoke to Kurai, "Kuri. Kuri." He was saying not to be afraid.

Kurai just shrugged him off and glared at this shadow, not scared of his chilling presence.

The shadow stopped and spoke in a dark evil tone, "So you can see the duel monsters' spirits?"

Kurai narrowed his eyes and didn't answer his question but replied, "Who the hell are you?" Showing no fear in his cold rude tone.

Yami Kuriboh had a sweat droplet on its fur, "Kuri. Kuri." He feared for its master because he knew who the shadow is very well.

The shadow waved his hand quickly and suddenly Kurai's throat was sealed as in air couldn't get through. Kurai's eye size increased as he was in pain. He held his throat, trying to remove the source of pain but he couldn't. Something or some magic was killing him. The shadow chuckled evilly, "You're so rude, showing disrespect when you don't know who I am. I should be asking the same question to you." He walked to his piles of treasures and picked up couple of gold coins in his shadowy hand, "Are you a thief, here to steal my precious treasures?"

Kurai couldn't answer because he couldn't even breathe. He was gasping for air.

The shadow smirked with its curved lips as he walked up to the tortured student, "I must say you done well to make it this far but this is the end of the line." He tossed golden coins roughly at the poor boy on the ground. The shadow step on the boy's head with its own black smoky foot, "Do you really think you, pathetic thief, could steal from the King of Thieves? Fool! That is your mistake!" He laughed manically.

Kurai groaned as his life was under the powerful shadow's feet literally. He groaned as his pride was being squashed by this pathetic spirit that was supposed to only exists in fantasy crap. He thought to himself, _'Is this the end for me? Damn everything!' _Suddenly a blurry image of a small brown-haired boy was dueling with a blue-haired boy flashed in his mind. Kurai realized his goal and he wouldn't let everything end right here. His amber eyes flashed and he snapped, "ARGHHHHHHHHHH!"

The shadow quickly stepped away as his foot was being pushed. He muttered to himself, "Nani?"

Kurai finally had air in his lungs. He slowly stood up on his feet and glared with his glowing amber eyes, filled with strong determination and passion.

The shadow was surprised at how this boy broke out of his spell. He smirked, "I like your eyes, boy." The shadow waved his hand as the robe came floating to him, "I'll let you live…now…tell me why you're here?" He wore his large red torn robe, presenting his status as the King of Thieves.

Kurai narrowed his eyes as he resumed his piercing glare at the shadow, "I came here for power."

The shadow smirked, "Power you say. What kind of power?"

Kurai answered right away as he crossed his arms, "The power of the strongest. The power to beat anyone."

"Ah yes, that power. I understood that feeling of desiring the power to achieve victory over weak people." The shadow chuckled evilly, "It is natural to crave for that power…I can grant you that power."

Kurai just stared at the shadow and countered, "At what cost?"

The shadow laughed, "You're very smart. I like that indeed." His eyes seemed to be glowing, "It's simple, give me your body and I'll grant you all the power you desire. The power to kill. The power to punish. The power to rule. All you have to do is lend your body to me. My previous body is corpse and my old host is gone."

Kurai answered right away, "No." He replied concisely.

The shadow was surprised and glared as he gave off strong dark aura around his transparent body, "You dare refuse my offer? You dare refuse the power?"

Kurai ignored his dark aura as he stood his ground, "What's power if you don't have a body to use? Without a body, power seemed so useless." He smirked as he pressed the shadow's button, "If I lend you my body, I would become pathetic as you are right now."

The shadow roared out of anger and sent a powerful wave of black aura from his body. Poor Yami Kuriboh was nearly blown away if he hadn't caught on to Kurai's red uniform. He spoke in a loud manic evil tone, "Imbecile, do you think you're in any position to refuse my offer? I could just kill you right now and take your corpse if I desire to!" The shadow became taller than before, "It's been years since I been to the outside world! Since you refused me, I'll just take your body now!"

Kurai glared back and snapped, "Like Hell, I will let you!" His amber eyes shone golden with unknown power, "Like hell, I would sell my soul to anyone. I want power but only for myself. Once I have that power, I will," He narrowed his eyes, "defeat that person!" He was about to leave, "This is full of crap, I'm getting out of this pathetic ruin." He walked away.

"Wait." The shadow return to his normal size as he caught Kurai's attention. He smirked, "I can see your will and your desire." His smirk grew wider, "There is another way to get the power you crave so much."

That line caught Kurai's full attention. Kurai slowly turned around and smirked, "What do I need to do?"

The shadow smirked as the entire stone field became consumed by dark purple shadows, "The way that puff ball hangs around you. You must be a duelist."

Kurai was staring at the purple shadow that slowly covered the entire room but when he heard the shadow. He glanced at Yami Kuriboh staring at him but he just brushed him off, "If I am?"

The shadow chuckled, "I'm a duelist too." Suddenly an old model of a duel disk materialized and wrapped around the shadow's arm, "You're smart. You should know what this means."

Kurai smirked back, "To get the power I wants, I must defeat you in a duel. Fine with me." Suddenly a duel disk materialized around his arm and Kurai recognized this old model_, 'This model…it's different from the Duel Academy. I had seen this before…at the Battle City in Japan.'_

The shadow touched his own duel disk, "You don't mind this model, do you? It held lot of "precious" memories for me."

Kurai doesn't really want to know the shadow's past. He just wanted to get this started. He shrugged as he doesn't really care.

The shadow chuckled, "Good." He then thought to himself, _'It's been so long I have been in the real world that I don't know anything about the current game. Also with my shadow dueling that annoyance, I can't use my full power. Heh…it's not necessary, I'll just use my other old deck from the past that nearly beat the Duel King…' _The shadow laughed manically, "Let the dark game begin!" The shadow had completely consumed the room and became a dueling field.

Kurai questioned as he looked at his opponent with suspicion, "What is all this?" He demanded to know.

The shadow just laughed softly, "Don't worry about it." He chuckled evilly, "They're just there for decorations." His eyes were glowing evilly in the dark shadows, "Duel!"

"I'll go first! Draw!" Kurai drew his card from the Duel Disk and glanced at his Hand, "I summon a monster face-down!" He slammed two cards on his Duel Disk and two cards materialized on the field, one card stood vertical and the other was horizontal, "I end my turn."

The shadow taunted, "You won't defeat me this way. DRAW!" The shadow drew his card and placed one card on the monster slot of his Duel Disk, "I summon Death Calibre Knight [**M1 (4/1900/1800)**] in attack mode!" A pillar of black shadow appeared on the shadow's side of the Field. Kurai could hear a loud neighing sound that would send chills through someone's bones. The shadow dispread, revealing a mean looking black horse, filled with powerful muscles and sharp black hooves. The horse had blood red eyes and smooth black mane that was dark as the night. Along with mane were bones of the horse's neck and on the top of the horse's head was a demonic horn. Riding the horse was a knight dressed in dark skeletal armor with horns on the side of its helmet. It wore a long torn blue cape on its back. The knight wielded a shield that resembled a head of a skull and a large wide broad dark sword, "Death Calibre Knight, destroy that defending monster now!" The knight's eyes glinted evilly as he kicked the horse's stomach with his feet. The black horse suddenly neighed loudly and stood on its hind legs. The horse came down with his fore legs on the ground and charged toward Kurai's monster. The knight raised its evil sword high and slashed the card as the horse rushed past it. The card was slashed in half, revealing an elf monster dressed in armor being sliced in half and then it shattered like broken glass.

Kurai braced the explosion of his monster's death and commented, "You destroy my E-Merc Wood Elf Archer!" [**M2 (4/1400/1200)**]

"What a pathetic defense, I set one card face-down!" The shadow inserted a card into the M/T slot, "And I end my turn. Your move, fool."

Kurai twitched at being called a fool but he quickly drew his card, "Draw! I summon E-Merc Stone Guarder [**M3 (4/800/2000)**] in defense!" A rock erupted into the Field and exploded into many pieces, revealing a thick stone muscular warrior with a large shield made out of rock, "I place one card face down and I'll end my turn." He inserted his card into the M/T slot.

"This is the best you can do? Draw!" The shadow laughed as he drew his card. He snatched a card from his Hand and declared, "I play Defending Seal of Dead Spirits!" [**S1**] The card showed a picture of a skeleton barely standing up with its own sword as support and a tiny shield on the other hand. It seemed like it was forced to fight, "This magic card change one of your monster into attack mode! Stand up and fight!" He ordered the Stone Guarder that responded by slowly standing up and held his shield in the sideway as it was in attack mode, "Death Calibre Knight, destroy that pathetic monster!" The knight charged again and stabbed its sword through the stone warrior's body. Suddenly Kurai felt a sharp blade just sliced through his heart. His eyes paled and he yelled, "AHHHHHHH!"

Yami Kuriboh's spirit appeared, "Kuri. Kuri?"

The shadow just smirked with his eyes glowing.

Kurai fell on his knees and held his chest. He was gasping very hard, "What…what the hell was that?"

"This is the Dark game or my favorite name, Shadow game." The shadow grinned with strong malice in it.

Kurai looked up to him and questioned, "The shadow game?"

"It is the game that duelists played long time ago where I come from. When you lose Life Points, you suffered the incredible pain. If you lose the game, then you will lose your life! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" The shadow laughed manically, "I love it. The thrill of inflicting pain and the thrill of taking life away!"

The teenage boy slowly stood up and glared, "Shut up. I just need to win, right? That's all I need to know."

The stone warrior shattered and the knight return back to its spot.

**Kurai: 4000 – 1100 = 2900. The shadow: 4000.  
**  
Kurai quickly activated his face-down card, revealing a swordsman charging with Greedy Goblin Merchant cowering behind, "I activate my trap card, Hired Mercenary! [**T1**] When a monster of mine was destroyed as the result of battle, I can special summon a Lv. 4 or lower E-Merc monster to the Field," He caught his deck and grabbed one card from it, "The card I chose is E-Merc Tempest Lady!" [**M4 (3/1000/1000)**] A pillar of wind rose from the field and disappeared, revealing a beautiful lady warrior in sky blue armor and hawk-like helmet.

"Another pathetic monster," The shadow inserted a card into his M/T slot, "I set another card face-down and I'm done." He chuckled as another M/T card materialized next to his other face-down card.

Kurai frowned when the shadow insulted his monster, "You'll regret that. Draw!" He drew his card and smirked, "Witness the true strength!" He slammed one card, "Polymerization!" [**S2**] His magic card with the picture of orange demon and dragon swirling together was revealed on the Field, "I fuse my E-Merc Tempest Lady and E-Merc Flame Berserker!" [**M5 (3/1200/900)**] A fiery orange-skinned warrior came to the Field with a large orange broadsword in his hands. He was sucked into small portal along with the Tempest Lady, "to fusion summon my favorite mercenary, E-Merc Blazing Windman!" [**M6 (6/2100/1200)**] Two pillars struck the Field with majestic force, one out of fire and one out of wind. The two powerful pillars merged together, creating a powerful explosion and waves of smoke came afterward. Once the smoke cleared, an orange and blue skinned warrior with hawk-shaped cannon flapped its feathered wings to display its raw power, "E-Merc Blazing Windman, destroy Death Calibre Knight with Hawk Blaze!" The winged warrior immediately took flight and aimed its hawk-shaped cannon toward the skeleton knight. The beak snapped open, revealing a growing sphere of purple fire inside.

"I activate my trap card, Dead Dragon Zoma!" [**T2 (4/1800/500)**] The shadow interrupted Kurai's attack as the face-down card revealed. It contained a picture of a nasty looking black demon with devil wings and red bones revealing in its chest. The background was a purple shadow, similar to the shadow consuming the room, "This trap card allowed me to special summons a monster token in defense. Arise, Dead Dragon Zoma!" A black demonic arm popped out of the Field and grabbed on the ground. The arm pulled its body up, revealing the same demon on the trap card that the shadow had activated.

"What good does it do to you?" Kurai ordered, "I'm still ordering Blazing Windman to attack your Death Calibre Knight!" The Blazing Windman instantly fired the purple flaming sphere that turned into a blazing hawk that headed toward the shadow's black knight but…

The shadow quickly activated his other face-down card, "Not so fast fool, I activate my other trap card, An Invitation of Earth Spirits!" [**T3**] His second trap card contained pictures of rotten skinned arms with blood red aura around it popping out of the ground, "This trap card allow me to chose a target for your monster to attack," He narrowed his eyes, making it seemed more evil, "And you must attack that target. The target I chose is Dead Dragon Zoma!"

The flaming hawk switched target and headed toward Dead Dragon Zoma. Kurai was shocked, "What?" The hawk struck the demon and burned it completely with purple flaming pillar. The pillar disappeared, leaving behind a ghost dragon with glowing red eyes. It has no body but only a head. Kurai narrowed his eyes, feeling something dreadful from this card.

The shadow just snickered evilly as he explained the effect of his trap card, "When Dead Dragon Zoma was destroyed, it dealt damage equal twice of your monster's ATK to your Life Points. Since your monster has a 2100 ATK power, you take 4200 damages!" The shadow laughed, "This is the end! Dead Dragon Zoma!" The ghost dragon's head suddenly flew toward Kurai. The E-Merc Blazing Windman tried to block the dragon's assault but the ghost simply went through Kurai's warrior. The ghost roared loudly as it was about to eat rest of Kurai's Life Points.

Kurai scoffed, "Not so fast. I didn't came here to lose." He quickly inserted one card and played it, "I play Kuriboh Calling Horn!" [**S3**] His magic card revealed a large horn playing and Kuriboh answered its call with Yami Kuriboh and Hane Kuriboh right behind it. Kurai quickly grabbed his deck and took one card from it, "I discarded Yami Kuriboh to the Graveyard," He inserted one card to his Graveyard slot and put his deck back, "Because I discarded one Kuriboh, I get to draw one card!" He snatched the top card from his deck.

The spirit of Yami Kuriboh suddenly floated near Kurai, "Kuri! Kuri!"

The shadow laughed again, "Like that will stop you from your death!"

The ghost charged but suddenly it was destroyed by black shield that surrounded Kurai. The shadow gasped, "Nani? How?"

Kurai caught one card from his Graveyard and showed it to his opponent, "I activate the effect of Yami Kuriboh. [**M7 (1/300/200)**] By removing Yami Kuriboh from the Graveyard, I can reduce the Effect damage to zero this turn. Thus, preventing your ghost from taking away my Life Points!"

Yami Kuriboh cheered, "Kuri! Kuri!"

The shadow glared with its glowing eyes but Kurai just smirked smugly.

Meanwhile somewhere else in the ruin, a Ra Yellow female student was facing the wrath of Diabound and its Dark Necrophia.

**TBC**

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Death Calibre Knight: Dark/Demon/4/1900/1800**: Effect: This card cannot be Special Summoned. When an effect Monster activates its effect, you must sacrifice this face-up card on your Field to negate the effect and destroy that Monster.

**M2 - ****E-Merc Wood Elf Archer: Wind/Warrior/4/1400/1200**

**M3 - ****E-Merc Stone Guarder: Earth/Warrior/4/800/2000**

**M4 - ****E-Merc Tempest Lady: Wind/Warrior/3/1000/1000**

**M5 - ****E-Merc Flame Berserker: Fire/Warrior/3/1200/900**

**M6 - ****E-Merc Blazing Windman: Wind/Warrior - Fusion/6/2100/1200**: Effect: This card can only be special summoned by fusion summon. When this card destroys and sends a Monster to the graveyard in battle, do damage equal to the defense strength of the monster destroyed to your opponent.

**M7 - ****Yami Kuriboh: Dark/Demon/1/300/200**: Effect: At any time, you can remove Yami Kuriboh from the Graveyard, to reduce Battle Damage or Effect Damage to zero till the End of the turn when this card was removed. You can only use this effect once per game.

**S1 - ****Defending Seal of Dead Spirits – Normal Spell**: Change one of the opponent's monsters into an attack mode.

**S2 - ****Polymerization – Normal Spell: **Fuses 2 or more Fusion-Material Monsters to form a new Fusion Monster.

**S3 - ****Kuriboh Calling Horn – Quickplay Spell**: You can discard one or up to all monsters with [Kuriboh] within its name from your Deck to the Graveyard. For each monster discarded this way, draw one card.

**T1 - ****Hired Mercenary – Trap**: This card can only be activate when one of your monsters on the field is destroyed as a result of battle. Special summon a monster with [E-Merc] in its name that is Level 4 or lower from your hand or deck.

**T2 - ****Dead Dragon Zoma – Continuous Trap**: Special Summon a monster token (**Zombie/Dark/4/ATK/DEF 1800/500**) on your side of the field in defense mode. When the token is destroyed as a result of battle, deal twice the attack power of the monster that destroyed the token to your opponent's Life Points.

**T3 - ****An Invitation of Earth Spirits – Trap**: This card can only be activated during the opponent's battle phase. Select a monster on the opponent's side of the field and force it to attack your monster of your choice.


	26. 14B: The Secret of the Ruin

**Author's note: **I defeated the final boss! Muwahahahaha! But that's not exciting news. What's exciting is that a friend of mine had drawn me a picture of Tsubaki! I have to say, I like Tsubaki's drawing more than Kurai. It's probably because I'm more biased toward underdogs and hot-headed people than cold people lol. If you wanna see Tsubaki's drawing, check it out on my profile! Tell me what you think of him! I'm curious to know.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yugioh.

**

* * *

Episode 14 Part B**

Kurai appeared again on the large plasma screen with Yami Kuriboh right behind him. The official logo of Yugioh GX appeared on the bottom right corner after few seconds.

Somewhere inside the ruin, Shizuka was playing a dangerous shadow game with Diabound with her and her friends' lives on stake. She was inside a dimension covered by purple mixed with dark colors shadows. Her friends were floating in air while they were tied up by slimy black tentacles floating with them. Diabound had a deadly monster Dark Necrophia [**M1 (8/2200/2800)**] on its side of the field while Shizuka had three monsters, Spirit of the Breeze, [**M2 (3/0/1800)**] Dancing Fairy, [**M3 (4/1700/1000)**] and Cure Mermaid [**M4 (4/1500/800)**] on her side. Even if the Diabound had strength on its side, he was still vastly outnumbered by its opponent's Life Points against its own. However, even if Shizuka had an advantage in this duel, she was struck by dark memories that occurred in the past few years.

Shizuka's clear eyes was shaking out of fright as the painful memories of her brother's loss and Miss Mai Valentine's loss scared her tremendously. Shizuka mumbled to herself as her lips were quivering, "This is the shadow game…the very shadow game…that caused onii-san and my friends pain…Onii-san, what should I do?"

Diabound's monotone yet sounded demonic voice interrupted Shizuka's thoughts, "You have far too much Life Points ahead of me. Allow me to get rid of it." Diabound's eyes glowed intensely, "Dark Necrophia, destroy Spirit of the Breeze!" The intimidating woman's eyes glowed bright and instantly her eyeballs fired lasers that set fire on the poor spirit. The spirit cried as her robe and body was consumed completely by the fire of hell. Suddenly, Shizuka felt that her entire body was on fire. Her clear skin was melting and scalding. Shizuka wailed as she collapsed on her knees and almost fell completely. The girl gasped as she stared at her arms that were still there and not ashes. Her eyes shook even more as she remembered how Miss Mai and her brother suffered through the Shadow game. She gasped, "This is the shadow game?" Her body was shaking.

"This is not a dream, little girl. As you seen the shadow game before, I expect you to know the rule." Diabound pointed to her Life Points decreasing.

**Diabound: 700. Shizuka: 7600 – 2200 = 5400.**

"I place two cards face-down," Two set cards appeared behind Dark Necrophia, "I end my turn. Do you even have the strength to go on?" Diabound chuckled as its tail snake hissed and snapped.

Shizuka winced at Diabound's question. She closed her eyes, _'I'm scared…I admit that…but if I don't fight…'_ She opened her eyes and stared at the floating duelists who were being drained by the tentacles wrapped around them, _'they will lose their lives!'_ She slowly stood up on her feet, "I will finish this. Draw!" The card came floating out of her deck and enlarged as it became part of the giant floating Hand. Shizuka narrowed her eyes as she noticed the card she drew. She quickly continued on, "Because I draw a card, Solemn Wishes [**T1**] gives me 500 Life Points!" Her trap card glowed as white rain sprinkled the blessed duelist.

**Diabound: 700. Shizuka: 5400 + 500 = 5900.**

Shizuka went on, "Now that it is my Standby Phase, my Cure Mermaid's effect activate again, increasing my Life Points by 800!" The mermaid gave Shizuka's an air kiss with her heart shaped bubble that sprinkled upon the duelist.

**Diabound: 700. Shizuka: 5900 + 800 = 6700.**

Shizuka pointed to her three little fairies hiding behind the gallant white shield, "Also when my Dancing Fairy is in face-up defense mode during my Standby Phase, I gain 1000 Life Points!" The three fairies took flight and left their shield behind. They flied around Shizuka, spreading sweet pollens to recover her Life Points.

**Diabound: 700. Shizuka: 6700 + 1000 = 7700.**

Diabound commented, "Such annoying moves but it would not save you from the shadow game! The more Life Points you have, the more damages you gain, then the more pain you get." The demon chuckled.

Shizuka gritted her teeth but she chose one card from her hand, "I will defeat you with my strongest card. I summon Injection Angel Lily!" [**M5 (3/400/1500)**] A girl suddenly came to the field with an explosion and pink smokes. It was an average angel girl with pink skin and bright cheery eyes and white wings behind her back. Her fluffy hair resembled a pink cotton candy served in a carnival. She wore a white skimpy nurse uniform with red collars and lines. Above her uniform were two white angelic wings that resembled a bra. She also wore a white cap with a red heart as a decoration. She carried a large injection needle with both of her gloved hands. The little angel winked and gave a blow kiss as she made a flashy entrance.

Diabound growled at her movements, "Your strongest monster? How? It only has a 400 ATK."

"You'll see. I switch my Dancing Fairy to attack mode!" The fairies popped out and the white shield became a chained spike ball once again. The fairies grabbed the chain and prepared for battle. Shizuka stretched out her hand to Injection Angel Lily, "Injection Angel Lily, attack Dark Necrophia!" The cute angel flapped her wings as she carried her large injection needle. She charged at Dark Necrophia as she was a jousting knight in a tournament while the Flight of the Bumblebees played in the background.

Diabound was surprised but didn't show it, "Are you a fool? Are you trying to commit suicide?" The blue-skinned woman just glared at the nurse angel with her creepy eyes that started to glow brightly.

Shizuka declared, "I activate my monster's effect! I pay 2000 Life Points to increase her ATK by 3000!" [**Injection Angel Lily's ATK: 400 + 3000 = 3400**] Suddenly Lily's needle became much bigger and she clumsily dropped it and disappeared out of the screen. She quickly came back to the screen, riding the giant injection needle like a rodeo cowboy. The nurse was yelling out of excitement as she swung her hat.

**Diabound: 700. Shizuka: 7700 – 2000 = 5700.**

Diabound slowly thought to itself, _'So this is why this girl kept increasing her life points. So she would have enough to pay to strengthen her weak monster into a powerhouse.'_ Diabound complimented, "Interesting effect but wasted effort! I activate my trap card, Altar of Tribute!" [**T2**] The demon's facedown card stood erect, containing a picture of an altar made out of bones and apparently it was sucking the blood or red energy out of the demon floating on the top of the altar, "This trap card allow me to send my monster to the Graveyard and increase my Life Points equal to the original ATK. The monster I chose is Dark Necrophia!" Suddenly an altar erupted into the Field and Dark Necrophia was in the center of it. The top of the altar fired a red bolt that shocked Dark Necrophia and the broken doll baby greatly. Their limbs twisted in many impossible ways as the red bolt continued to shock them until the tortured female soul exploded into raw energy for Diabound, "My Life Points now increased by 2200."

**Diabound: 700 + 2200 = 2900. Shizuka: 5700.**

Shizuka was disgusted at Diabound's trap card. How the trap card slaughtered the demon was ruthless even if the monster card was scary. She yelled, "Even if you increase my Life Points, my Injection Angel Lily can still take away the rest of your Life Points!" The victory was assured. Her friends will be saved and she wouldn't need to lose her soul to the shadow game. The Injection Angel Lily just rode the needle like a cowgirl and headed toward Diabound.

Diabound just laughed tauntingly in such hideous tone. Shizuka didn't like that tone because it made her think that something terrible will happen. Shizuka suddenly remembered what happened in that duel when Dark Necrophia was destroyed. She gasped, "No." The giant needle suddenly made a skidding sound and Lily almost fell off as the needle bucked into a complete stop. Lily blinked in confusion as she stared at the remains of Dark Necrophia on the Field. Suddenly the remains burst into purple flames.

"I believed you remember this card," Diabound chuckled as suddenly the purple flames became a huge pillar of fire that struck the shadow and slowly replaced the entire dimension with blood red mixed with black clouds, "When Dark Necrophia goes to the Graveyard, I can activate this card from my Hand," The demon's eyes flashed blood red, "Dark Sanctuary!" [**S1**] The dark clouds suddenly gained eyes that snapped open, revealing its blood red pupils. The clouds also gained lips with fangs, making it look like a vampire teeth.

Shizuka's body shook again as she remembered that she hugged her brother in fear of this dreadful field but her brother was not here and she's the one who must duel against this demon. She suddenly realized as she remembered another effect of the Field card. She saw that her Injection Angel Lily was still aiming for an attack at Diabound, "Oh no!"

The Injection Angel Lily was about to pierce Diabound with the large needle until a haunting spirit entered her body and struck Shizuka. Diabound laughed evilly, "Since you were there, I believe that you also remember this effect. This Field has a resident ghost that can possess one of your monsters. When the monster that possessed the ghost attacked, that attack is negated and you received damage equal to half of the monster's ATK and I gained Life Points equal to half of the monster's ATK too. Unfortunately for you, the ghost has possessed your angel. Since your angel had a 3400 ATK, I gain 1700 Life Points and you lose 1700 Life Points." But Diabound was in complete surprise.

**Diabound: 2900 + 200 = 3100. Shizuka: 5700 – 200 = 5500.**

Diabound was shocked at the results, "Nani? But how?" He saw that Injection Angel Lily's needle was smaller and her ATK was back to normal. [**Injection Angel Lily's ATK: 3400 – 3000 = 400**]

"Unfortunately, Injection Angel Lily's ATK only increase during the damage step. Afterwards, her ATK goes back to normal. So even if the Ghost possessed this monster, the damage will still be minimal." Shizuka smiled slightly while withstanding a little pain from losing little Life Points and she ordered both of her monsters to attack her opponent directly for complete victory, "Dancing Fairy, attack!" The fairies span the spiked ball in complete circles and let it go toward Diabound.

Diabound pointed to his set card on the Field, "I activate my face-down card, The Curse of the Vengeful Souls!" [**T3**] The trap card had a picture of numerous skeletal hands heading toward the screen with red mixed with black colored background, "Since Dark Necrophia was sent to the Graveyard, I can use this trap card to end your turn!"

Shizuka pouted slightly as she had no choice.

"Draw!" Diabound chuckled evilly as it drew the card for its victory, "I played a magic card, The Dark Door." [**S2**] His permanent magic card revealed a lone demon entering the doorway, facing many monsters preparing for their deadly surprise attacks, "The Dark Door make both of us to attack only with one monster during the Battle Phase."

'_Only one monster during the Battle Phase?'_ Shizuka thought to herself as her strategy was limited.

Diabound's eyes glowed as it selected another card, "Then I summon Sangan!" [**M6 (3/1000/600)**] A brown hairy mangy ball appeared with two foot and long clawed arms. It had three wide eyes with tiny pupil as dots and a large mouth with few fangs, "In order to keep Dark Sanctuary on the Field, I must sacrifice a monster at the end of my turn. I sacrifice Sangan!" A mouth appeared from the sanctuary and swallowed Sangan away from the Field, "When Sangan goes to the Graveyard from the Field, it allows me to get a monster with an ATK of 1500 or lower from my deck." Diabound's deck suddenly glowed and all the cards from Diabound's deck appeared in right in front of the monster. Diabound pointed his finger at one of the cards, "I chose Earthbound Spirit." The card revealed itself to Shizuka so she could see the picture of a dark-skinned zombie coming from the earth. The cards of the deck restored to normal size and reshuffled. The card that Diabound chose floated to its Hand, "I place one card face down." A card appeared behind Sangan. Your move!"

Shizuka narrowed her eyes as the top card flew from her deck and became part of her Hand, _'The Dark Door…and that face down card…' _She tried to remember the famous duel between her brother's friend and his opponent. She then suddenly remembered ominous letters that nearly spell…, "That face down card…It can't be…"

Diabound chuckled, "Oh but it is. I activate my face down card! The Ouija Board!" [**T4**] His trap card revealed a deadly spirit holding a D in its ghostly arms over the infamous Ouija board.

Shizuka gasped as she remembered this card from the Battle Ship, "The Ouija Board."

A letter "D" materialized on the Field above the duelists. "At the end of each of your turn, the next letter will appear. When it finally spelled Death, the shadow game will take your life!" Diabound laughed manically.

* * *

Outside the ruins, it was dark, the sun had set and disappeared to the other side of the world, letting a black curtain covered the sky. The inhabitants of the island relied their technological sources of light besides the light from the full moon and the bright stars. However, the people had failed to notice another source of light on the island. Beyond the thick forests, an old ruin was giving off a bright glow as a strange sign of ancient power was at work. Most people were asleep or doing their late activates, so they would never notice the strange glow from the ruin.

At the top of the Dueling Academy, one person had noticed the strange glow from the ruin through the glassed window walls. That person was the Kamil aka Fisherman, the principal of the Duel Academy. The Fisherman was staring at the ruin with a knowing glint behind his closed eyes, "So it awakened, huh? I guess Shadow is right, after all. The disaster will happen soon."

* * *

Within the ruin, two male teachers were running through traps with ease. Arrows were suddenly shot from the walls toward them. Gabriel immediately stopped running and then swung his sword to cut the arrows. His stern eyes widened as a large boulder heading toward him.

"Get back!" Tyrell suddenly ran in front of Gabriel as he went into his boxing pose. He narrowed his eyes as he mustered all strength into his clenched fist. As the boulder came within few inches of Tyrell, he immediately punched and completely pulverized the boulder into dust.

Gabriel stared in slight amazement, "That was quite impressive."

Tyrell smirked with pride, "Heh, thanks." But then his face distorted with extreme pain, "GAHHHHHH!" He held his throbbing hand, the same hand that punched the boulder, "Ouch! That really hurts!"

Gabriel stared at Tyrell as he just lost his admiration of him, "You know…you just ruined your moment there."

"Eh?" Tyrell whined, "I can't believe I just ruined my manly moment! I need to be manlier! Gabe, what should I do?" He looked back at Gabriel but noticed that he was gone, "Gabe?" He glanced around, "Where did ya go?" He sighted Gabriel touching the wall.

"They were in here." Gabriel observed the damages around the ruins, "The traps activated before."

Tyrell gulped, "Does this mean our students are dead?"

Gabriel continued walking deeper in the hallway, "No, there's no corpses…yet."

"Yet?" Tyrell exclaimed as he went after Gabriel, "How can you say that? Don't you have any faith in our students?"

"You started it." Gabriel countered as they continued their search for the missing students.

* * *

Back at the bottom of the ruin, Kurai's duel with the shadow was underway.

Kurai was staring at the three cards in his hand and snatched one card, "I set one card face-down and then I'll finish my turn." An M/T card materialized on the Field behind his winged mercenary.

The shadow thought to himself, _'Nobody survived this long except that little pest.'_ The shadow smirked, _'He is certainly interesting.'_ He drew a card from his Duel Disk, "Draw! This is the end of your short life! I play a magic card, Sealing Sword of Dead Spirits!" [**S3**] The shadow's magic card revealed a thin needle dagger with blue handle. It had a pink exhilarating background. Afterwards, the same dagger appeared on the Field, "I chose your E-Merc Blazing Windman!" The dagger charged instantly and stabbed E-Merc Blazing Windman and pinned Kurai's winged warrior to the shadow wall.

Suddenly, Kurai felt his heart was pinned by a large needle, "ARGHHHHHH!" He collapsed on his knee and clenched his chest, trying to brace the pain. His breathing became labored and he glared at the shadow with hatred.

The shadow explained the effect of his magic card, "The Sealing Sword of Dead Spirits allows me to seal one of your monsters. When that happened, your monster cannot attack nor defend and the effect became negated. Also the sword cannot be destroyed by magic, trap, or any of your monster's effects." The shadow laughed manically, "Also when your only monster is sealed," His shadowy eyes became creepy, "You're free for direct attacks."

Kurai suppressed the pain of his heart and asked, "How am I supposed to destroy your stupid magic card?"

The shadow chuckled, "When one of your monster goes to the graveyard, the sealed monster become unsealed," He pointed to Kurai's empty Field, "However you don't have any monsters!"

Kurai quickly stood up and pressed the button on his Duel Disk, "You're wrong! I activate my trap card, Mercenary's Best Friend!" [**T5**] Kurai's trap card showed a cold looking swordsman gently patting a wolf for appreciation, "When my E-Merc Blazing Windman became the target of your magic card, I can special summon Fiend Husky [**M8 (3/800/1200)**] to the Field in defense!" He grabbed his deck and took one card. He slammed the card he took on the Duel Disk and a chrome-plated husky appeared on the Field in Kurai's side.

"The defense is still weak." The shadow scoffed as he placed one card on the Duel Disk, "I'll summon Dead Master – Dead Cregit Mage!" **[M7 (4/1700/1200)**] A dead necromancer appeared on the Field with its old twisted body. It wore a black hood and cape over its dull gray wizard's robe. It carried a long rotten wood staff, "Dead Master – Dead Cregit Mage, destroy his precious pet!" The zombie mage aimed its wooden staff and sent a gray energy ball that shocked the Fiend Husky tremendously. Kurai couldn't help but screamed out of pain as his body was shocked greatly.

Yami Kuriboh was concerned, "Kuri. Kuri!" He waved his tiny little paws.

The shadow chuckled as he enjoyed his opponent's pain, "If you keep summoning monsters, you will feel their pain a lot more." He laughed out loud again.

Kurai glared and declared, "When you destroyed Fiend Husky and sent him to Graveyard, I can get Polymerization and an E-Merc monster from the Graveyard to my Hand!"

"Not so fast!" The shadow interrupted and pointed to his Fiend Husky that was suddenly sent to the top of Kurai's deck.

Kurai was surprised, "Nani?"

The shadow explained, "When my Dead Master destroys your monster, your monster is sent to the Top of your deck, not the Graveyard."

Kurai cursed, "Shit!"

The shadow smirked, "Now, Death Calibre Knight! Attack him directly!" The black horse neighed and charged. The knight held its evil sword high and slashed Kurai. Kurai groaned as he braced the shadow monster's attack.

**Kurai: 2900 – 1900 = 1000. The shadow: 4000.**

The shadow laughed manically again as he enjoyed laughing very much. He continued laughing as his opponent's life points were decreasing.

Kurai just stood there while his opponent was becoming a psycho. He asked, "Are you done yet?"

The shadow stopped laughing and glanced at Kurai. He smirked, "What's wrong, boy? Rushing to your death so soon?"

Kurai narrowed his eyes that caused shock to the shadow, "This game is not over yet."

The shadow scowled, _'I thought for sure that his spirit will become weak and pathetic but it didn't'_ He smirked wickedly, _'this boy is proving his worth.'_ He picked three cards from his Hand and inserted them, "I set three cards face-down and I end my turn."

"Draw!" Kurai knew he's going to drew Fiend Husky. He glanced at his other two cards in his Hand. He knew he doesn't have much of a choice plus…he had to be aware of his opponent's face-down cards. Where are Tempest Lady and Tornado Duster when he needs them? He took his chance and played one magic card, "I play Pot of Greed!" [**S4**] His new magic card showed the infamous green pot with yellow teeth and blue decorations, "I draw two cards," He quickly grabbed them and looked at his new choices. He smirked as luck was at his side, "I summon Fiend Husky in attack!" He summoned the metallic husky again but this time on the offense, "Fiend Husky, attack Death Calibre Knight with Chrome Fang!" The husky howled as it rushed to the skeletal knight.

The shadow was surprised at his opponent's action, _'Fool, if he does that, then he would lose all his life points. What is he planning?'_ The husky tried to bite the knight but its fangs only bit on the Death Calibre Knight's broadsword. The knight's eyes glowed faintly as it sliced the poor Husky in half. Kurai groaned as he felt his entire body was cut in half. He nearly collapsed but he kept his balance. The shadow spoke, "Because of your foolish action, you lose all your life points and your life!" He grinned inside his mind, _'Now his body is mine.'_

Kurai smirked with his eyes in shadows, "Not quite."

The shadow was surprised, "Nani?" He saw Kurai's Life Points were 3700, "How did that happen?" That's when the shadow finally noticed a magic card on Kurai's Field with a picture of a battered up bandaged berserker giving a lot of gold coins to the Greedy Goblin Merchant who was grinning evilly with his eyes replaced by dollar signs.

Kurai pointed to his new magic card, "I activate Demand Double Refund. [**S5**] This magic card activated when my monster is destroyed from battle and the Battle Damage is supposedly higher than my Life Points. I gained Life Points by double of the ATK of the monster that destroyed Fiend Husky. Your monster has 1900 ATK, thus I gain 3800 Life Points."

**Kurai: 1000 + 3800 = 4800. The shadow: 4000.**

Kurai explained the details further, "But I have to take battle damage afterwards."

**Kurai: 4800 – 1100 = 3700. The shadow: 4000.**

The shadow gritted its shadowy teeth, _'Damnit, in one turn, the annoying pest had found a way to restore his Life Points to near maximum.'_

Kurai discarded Fiend Husky to the Graveyard, "Also because Fiend Husky was destroyed by Death Calibre Knight and was sent to the Graveyard, I can bring Polymerization and E-Merc monster back to my hand," He grabbed two cards from the Graveyard, revealing the shadow his Polymerization and E-Merc Stone Guarder, "Also when a monster of mine goes to the Graveyard, your Sealing Sword of Dead Spirits is destroyed!" He pointed to the shadow's face-up magic card that shattered into pieces. The large pin disappeared and his Blazing Windman flied back to the Field.

Since it was still his Battle Phase, Kurai quickly played another card from his Hand, "Then I activate another magic card, Double Strike!" [**S6**] His new magic card contained a picture of the cold swordsman slashing a demon into three pieces because he delivered two strikes, "This magic card allows me to discard one monster card. I can select one E-Merc monster that is lower lever than the monster card I discard, so my monster can attack twice! The monster card I discard is Level Seven E-Merc Force Vanquisher!" [**E-Merc Force Vanquisher: ?/Warrior/7/?/?: Effect: SECRET.**] He discarded his monster card into the Graveyard, "Now my E-Merc Blazing Windman can attack twice! E-Merc Blazing Windman, destroy Death Calibre Knight with Hawk Blaze!" The winged warrior took flight and fired a purple fire bird that became a pillar of destruction that consumed the poor skeletal knight completely into ashes.

**Kurai: 3700. The shadow: 4000 – 200 = 3800.**

"Also, my E-Merc Blazing Windman's effect activates! When he destroys your monster and sent it to the Graveyard, you take damage to the destroyed monster's defense. Your Death Calibre Knight has 1800 defense." Kurai explained as the flaming pillar continued on its blazing path and struck the shadow.

**Kurai: 3700. The shadow: 3800 – 1800 = 2000.**

Kurai declared his second attack, "E-Merc Blazing Windman, attack his other monster with another Hawk Blaze!" The winged warrior took flight again and fired another purple fire bird toward the Dead Master. The fire bird struck with an explosion and became the pillar again however it was not burning the Dead Master. The zombie wizard had a barrier around him, protecting him from the pillar of fire. Kurai was stunned, "What the hell's going on?" He demanded to know.

The shadow snickered then he explained, "My Dead Master had a second effect. When it is destroyed as the result of battle, I reduce all damage to zero by returning all my cards in my Hand to the deck." The wizard shattered into pieces but the shadow took no damage. The shadow returned the cards in his Hand to the deck and shuffled it afterwards.

Kurai growled but he was finished, "I end my turn."

"Draw!" The shadow drew his card and played it immediately, "I play Pot of Greed and draw two cards!" He drew his two cards from the Deck. He smirked, "I activate one of my face-down cards, Curse Necros Twins!" [**S7**] The shadow's face-down card had a picture of two female twin dolls that had blonde curly hairs. One doll was wearing a pink dress and bow while carrying a black present box with red ribbons. She contained a red background. The other doll was wearing the same clothes except it was light blue and she carried a red present box with black ribbons. She contained a blue background. His magic card activated and the two same dolls appeared on the Field. The shadow grinned evilly, "Pick one."

Kurai was confused and questioned, "What do you mean?"

"Precisely what I meant," The shadow just smirked, "One box brings good effects while the other box might have the opposite. You just need to choose one, that's all."

Kurai narrowed his eyes but replied concisely, "Red." He had picked the red box.

The shadow giggled softly, "Congratulations, you picked the right box. You gain 200 Life Points for each card that sent to your Graveyard." The red box opened and the doll disappeared while the black box slowly opened and the doll just vanished, "And you left the black box with me," His eyes widened in creepy way, "Which make my Graveyard disappear."

Kurai's eyes widened in shock as monsters were floating in air above the Field. He recognized them as the shadow's monsters but they were all transparent as they were ghosts.

The shadow explained, "Because my Graveyard disappears, my monsters become spirits but no worries, they cannot attack or use their effects." He laughed evilly.

Kurai just stared at the floating spirits that haunted the Field. He couldn't help but felt something wrong with the shadow's moves, _'This freak is planning something.'_

**

* * *

TBC**

**Rad: **Alright! Last time, it was the Osiris Reds but now it's Ra Yellow's turn! I'm Rad, 1st year Ra Yellow!

**Shizuka: **Um…I'm Shizuka…2nd year Ra Yellow. It's very nice to meet you all.

**Rad: **Putting introductions aside. I have to say that I'm upset!

**Shizuka: **Upset? Because you were being captured by the enemy?

**Rad: **No way! I'm upset that I didn't get to see your duel! Do you know what the boys say back at the dorms?

**Shizuka: **Eh, what?

**Rad: **That watching Shizuka duel will have your heart pumping and falling in love!

**Shizuka: **Eh? **::she blushed:: **I'm not that awesome as Onii-san! Onii-san is a much better duelist than I am! Shouldn't we be giving an episode preview?

**Rad: **Oh, right! Conlusion to Shizuka and Yuki's match!

**Next episode: Episode 15: The Ruin's Finale**

**Rad: **You don't wanna miss it!

**Shizuka sweatdrop: **We need to do better preview…

**

* * *

Card of the Day – The Oujia Board**

**Alexander smiled: **The Oujia Board, one of the few cards that can grant you special victory and one of my favorite items of all time. Don't you just love the Oujia Board?

**Tsubaki: **…Um…I'm not sure….

**Alexander smiled: **Why did you say that?

**Tsubaki: **Well…first of all…it's just a board…and you just drag across that magnifying glass across bunch of letters. It's all nonsense crap.

**Alexander: **Oh? You don't believe that sprits of the afterlife will give you a message?

**Tsubaki: **Please, I'm not that stupid.

**Alexander: **Oh…I guess you don't want to know how you can beat Yuki then.

**Tsubaki: **Eh, what do you mean?

**Alexander looked away: **I was asking the spirits for ways of beating Yuki. It was very interesting but since you don't believe in the Oujia board, I don't think I'll tell you.

**Tsubaki: **Ehhhh? You gotta tell me! Come on, be a pal!

**Alexander: **Nope. I don't wanna.

**Tsubaki: **Alex? Buddy, come on! Please!

**Alexander walked away: **Too late. **::he chuckled:: **

**Tsubaki: **Alex? Come on! I gotta know how to beat that cold-hearted stiff bastard!

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Dark Necrophia: Dark/Demon/8/2200/2800**: Effect: Remove 3 Demon Sub-Type monsters in your Graveyard from the game in order to Special Summon this Monster. If this card is destroyed by your opponent and it goes to the Cemetery, at the end of the turn this card becomes an Equipment card on an opponent's Monster. While this card is Equipped on it, you control that Monster.

**M2 - ****Spirit of the Breeze: Wind/Angel/3/0/1800**: Effect: As long as this card remains in face-up Attack Position on your side of the field, increase your Life Points by 1000 points during each of your Standby Phases.

**M3 - ****Dancing Fairy: Wind/Angel/4/1700/1000**: Effect: As long as this card remains in face-up Defense Position on your side of the field, increase your Life Points by 1000 points during each of your Standby Phases.

**M4 - ****Cure Mermaid: Water/Fish/4/1500/800**: Effect: As long as this card remains face-up on your side of the field, increase your Life Points by 800 points during each of your Standby Phases.

**M5 - ****Injection Angel Lily: Earth/Spellcaster/3/400/1500**: Effect: This card's effect can only be activated during the Damage Step of either player's turn when this card battles. Pay 2000 Life Points to increase the ATK of this monster by 3000 points during the Damage Step only.

**M6 - ****Sangan: Dark/Demon/3/1000/600**: Effect: When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, select 1 monster with an ATK of 1500 or less from your Deck, show it to your opponent, and add it to your hand. Then shuffle your Deck.

**M7 - ****Dead Master – Dead Cregit Mage: Dark/Undead/4/1700/1200**: Effect: When it is destroyed in the battle, the player can return all cards on his hand and this card to his deck in order to get 0 damage. Then shuffle his deck. Also, if this monster destroys an opponent's monster, the destroyed monster is sent to the top of the opponent's deck instead of the Graveyard.

**M8 - ****Fiend Husky: Earth/Machine/3/800/1200**: Effect: If this monster is sent to the Graveyard, you can return 1 [Polymerization] and 1 monster with [E-Merc] in its name into your hand.

**T1 - ****Solemn Wishes - Continuous Trap**: Increase your Life Points by 500 points each time you draw a card (or cards).

**T2 - ****Altar of Tribute – Normal Trap**: Select 1 monster on your side of the field and send it to the Graveyard. Increase your Life Points by an amount equal to the original ATK of the monster.

**T3 - ****The Curse of the Vengeful Souls – Normal Trap**: Only activates during your opponent's turn. When a demon-type monster was sent to the Graveyard, you end your opponent's turn.

**T4 - ****Ouija Board – Trap**: At the end of each of your opponent's turns, place 1 "Spirit Message" card from your hand or your Deck face-up on the field. If it is from your Deck, then shuffle your Deck. When "Spirit Message" cards "E", "A", "T", and "H" are all on your side of the field in their proper order, you are declared the winner. If any of your "Spirit Message" cards or "Destiny Board" are removed from the field, all your "Spirit Message" cards and "Destiny Board" on the field are sent to your Graveyard immediately.

**T5 - ****Mercenary's Best Friend – Trap**: When a monster with [E-Merc] within its name become a target of a magic, trap, effect, or attack, you can special summon [Fiend Husky] from your Hand or deck. When [Fiend Husky] is on the Field, other monsters cannot be selected as an attack target.

**S1 - ****Dark Sanctuary – Field Spell**: You can activate this card from your Hand when a [Dark Necrophia] on your Field is destroyed and sent to a Graveyard. You can use Monster Zone Slots as Magic/Trap Zone Slots. Once during an opponent's turn, you can negate an attack by an opponent's monster, do damage to your opponent equal to half its attack strength, and you gain Life Points equal to half its attack strength. During your End Phase, sacrifice 1 Monster on the Field or destroy this card.

**S2 - ****The Dark Door – Continuous Spell**: Both players can only attack with 1 monster during their respective Battle Phases.

**S3 - ****Sealing Sword of Dead Spirits – Normal Spell**: Select of the opponent's monsters on the field. The selected monster can't neither attack nor defend. Also, its effect can't be played and invalid. This card can't be destroyed by magic, trap or monster's effects. If an opponent's monster is sent to the cemetery, this card is destroyed and the selected monster is released from the sealing effect.

**S4 - ****Pot of Greed – Normal Spell**: Draw 2 cards from your deck.

**S5 - ****Demand Double Refund – Quickplay Spell**: This card can only activate when your monster was destroyed as the result of battle and the Battle Damage is higher than your Life Points. The monster that destroyed your monster, increase your life points by double of the ATK of the opponent's selected monster. Afterwards, the Battle Damage is dealt.

**S6 - ****Double Strike – Quickplay Spell**: Discard 1 Monster Card from your hand to the Graveyard. Select 1 monster with [E-Merc] within its name on your side of the field with a lower Level than the discarded monster. The selected monster can attack twice this turn.

**S7 - ****Curse Necros Twins – Normal Spell**: Both players have to choose between a red box and a black box. By effect of a red box, it increases LP of a player 200 points per card discarded into his Graveyard. On the other side, by effect of a black box, it makes a player's Graveyard disappear. Then all cards there are counted onto the field but they can't attack nor defend. Their effects are also invalid. The opponent can't neither attack nor play any effects to them.


	27. 15A: The Ruin's Finale

**Author's note: **So we finally come to the last episode of this ruin arc. So of course, two duels will be concluded! But first, Shizuka's duel goes first. I have to save the best for the last but I do like Shizuka's true deck theme. What is it? Well, read it! Tell me what you think and thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh!

**

* * *

Episode 15: The Ruin's Finale Part A**

Back at the duel between the Ra Yellow student and the Duel Monster was still going on while the shadow game was taking toll. The duelists that were tied up were still chained to the wall of shadows. The unfortunate duelists' skins were getting paler as the black tentacles continued to drain their energy from their bodies. However the purple shadows were replaced by the dreadful blood color and haunting mouths and eyes. Diabound, the demon monster, recently activated the true power of its deck, the Ouija Board. With the Ouija Board on the Field, Diabound already had D and only need four letters for its complete victory.

Shizuka couldn't help but felt goose bumps in her skin but she knew that she must go on for the sake of others, _'I must get rid of his Life Points before the Ouija Board is complete.'_ Her Solemn Wishes activated and a white rain showered the duelist, "Because of my Solemn Wishes, I gain a 500 Life Points when I drew that card."

**Diabound: 3100. Shizuka: 5500 + 500 = 6000. **

Her Draw Phase became her Standby Phase, "Since it's my Standby Phase, Cure Mermaid's effect activated!" The mermaid giggled as she gave a heart shaped kiss to Shizuka.

**Diabound: 3100. Shizuka: 6000 + 800 = 6800.**

Diabound pointed it out, "However since your Dancing Fairy is not in defense, her effect does not work."

Shizuka cringed, "I knew that." She looked at her Injection Angel Lily, _'Since the Dark Door is on the Field, I can only attack with one monster and Injection Angel Lily is infected by the ghost of the Dark Sanctuary.'_ She then had a small flash back to the Duel King's previous duel with a white haired duelist, _'Wait…wasn't there something else…?...Oh…but I can't remember…'_

_'Foolish girl,'_ Diabound noticed the spirit of the Dark Sanctuary was floating around, _'It does not possess only one monster. It can possess others too!'_ The spirit slowly split into three and entered the three small cute dancing fairies.

'_No, I can't hesitate! I must get rid of all his life points,' _Shizuka narrowed her eyes, _'I'll just have to use my Dancing Fairy!'_ She ordered her monster, "Dancing Fairy, attack him directly with Holy Crown Shield!" The three little fairies suddenly flied as they charged with the spiked chain ball.

Diabound yelled, "Fool!"

Shizuka was surprised, "Nani?" Suddenly the Dancing Fairy stopped in their path and the spirit appeared out of their bodies. The spirit wailed and struck Shizuka's Life Points away. At the same time, Diabound gained Life Points.

**Diabound: 3100 + 1100 = 4200. Shizuka: 6800 – 1100 = 5700.**

Shizuka felt a deep stabbing pain in her chest as she lost her Life Points. The Ra Yellow clenched her chest as she collapsed on her knees. She hugged herself as she was trying her hardest not to lose to this pain inflicted by the game. She gasped, "How? I thought…"

Diabound knew what she was going to ask and answered, "The spirit of the Dark Sanctuary can possess any of your monster and the best part is you don't know which monster is possessed!" Diabound laughed manically.

Shizuka groaned as she used all her strength to stand up, _'Onii-san…what would you do in this situation?'_ she realized what she thought, _'…no…onii-san is not here…I have to do this by myself…if I don't…I'll always be dependant little sister…'_ She pointed to her Cure Mermaid, "I switch Cure Mermaid into defense mode and I'll end my turn." The mermaid crouched with her huge scaled tail as shield. Suddenly small clouds formed and they merged together to form an "E" next to the "D" above the deadly Ouija Board.

Diabound explained, "Every time you ended your turn, the next letter appears. Just three more and you're dead."

Shizuka frowned and retorted, "But you need all five slots to get the full word to assure victory."

"I do not need to worry about that," Diabound countered, "Dark Sanctuary allowed me to use my Monsters slots as Magic or Traps slots, so I actually have 10. Draw!" Diabound drew the card and played it right away, "Pot of Greed!" Its magic card of the green pot with yellow teeth appeared on the Field, "I draw two cards!" Two cards floated away from its deck. Diabound pointed to one and played another magic card, "I play Graceful Charity!" [**S1**] Diabound's new card had a picture of an angel holding a glowing card in her hands, "I get to draw three cards," Three more cards floated out of the demon's deck to its Hand, "But I must discard two afterwards." Diabound selected two cards to be thrown into the Graveyard. It pointed to one of the only three cards in its Hand, "Prepare to feel the wrath of Dark Necrophia's spirit!"

"Dark Necrophia? I thought she's still in the Graveyard?" Shizuka questioned.

"In order to make Dark Sanctuary work, Dark Necrophia must be in the Graveyard," Diabound snickered evilly, "But this is another form. Come forth, Dark Necrofante!" [**M1 (8/2800/2200)**]

"Dark Necrofante?" Shizuka dared asked.

Diabound explained, "This card can only be special summoned by removing three demon-type monsters from the Graveyard and Dark Necrophia must be in the Graveyard." Diabound showed three cards to its opponent, "The monsters I'm removing are Sangan, Possessed Dark Soul [**M2 (3/1200/800)**], The Earl of Demise [**M3 (5/2000/700)**], the last two monsters I had discarded with Graceful Charity." A black flame appeared on the Field, revealing a familiar broken baby doll that Dark Necrophia used to hold in her arms.

Shizuka blinked in confusion, "A baby?"

The baby's lifeless eyes quickly stared at Shizuka, giving her goose bumps again. The baby doll slowly stood up on its limbs, making a grinding sound. Suddenly the doll's head turned upside down and its mouth opened and a sound of the baby's laughter echoed. Shizuka cringed out of fear and suddenly the baby doll grew into a giant doll with broken limbs and cracked face upside down. It plastic chest had a large bottomless hole but Shizuka noticed something inside that hole. Her eyes widened in shock as she recognized it. It was the body of Dark Necrophia inside the hole of the baby's chest. Her arms were chained to the baby's shoulders and her head was glaring at the duelist.

"Arise, Dark Necrofante! Destroy Dancing Fairy with Death Wail!" The baby doll's mouth snapped open and it gave a loud ear-drum shattering cry. Shizuka covered her ears and so did the fairies. But the cry was too strong and Dancing Fairy was destroyed along with the Holy Crown Shield. Shizuka winced as she nearly lost her balance because she suffered from the throbbing pain in her ears and her heart.

**Diabound: 4200. Shizuka: 5700 – 600 = 5100.**

Diabound continued his turn, "I place one card down and normal summon Earthbound Spirit."[**M4** **(4/500/2000)**] The zombie rose from the Earth into the Field with a set card materialized behind it, "I end my turn and to keep Dark Sanctuary on the Field, I sacrifice my Earthbound Spirit." The zombie was swallowed by the mouth of the Dark Sanctuary.

Shizuka was worried about the new deadly monster and the spirit of the haunted field. She closed her eyes, praying for slight hope, "Draw!" The card floated out of her deck and Shizuka's eyes widened as her prayer was answered. The solemn wishes granted her 500 Life Points.

**Diabound: 4200. Shizuka: 5100 + 500 = 5500.**

As her Draw Phase went into Standby Phase, the Cure Mermaid granted Shizuka more Life Points.

**Diabound: 4200. Shizuka: 5500 + 800 = 6300.**

Shizuka quickly pointed to the card she drew, "I summon Injection Angel Daffi in attack!" [**M5 (3/400/1500)**] A beautiful girl came to the field dressed in the same nurse uniform as Injection Angel Lily. This girl was nearly as tall as Lily and had long sleek golden yellow hair that went beyond her waistline. Her long hair covered one of her eyes, giving her the cute mysterious look. She wielded a much thinner but taller needle than Lily's needle.

"Another Injection Angel?" Diabound asked.

"Hai! It's one of the Injection Angel Sisters, my trump set." Shizuka declared but she narrowed her eyes as she stared at the Field, _'Right now, the wandering spirit could possess any of my monsters…but I don't think it could possess a monster I just summoned!' _She ordered, "Injection Angel Daffi, attack Dark Necrofante with Injection Shot!" The Injection Angel Daffi nodded to Shizuka and then charged with the needle as a jousting lance and her tiny wings flapping, "I pay 1500 Life Points to increase her ATK by 2500!" Her large needle immediately grew bigger as Daffi's ATK increased from 400 to 2900. Daffi almost fell on her warpath but she struggled with the overbearing needle.

**Diabound: 4200. Shizuka: 6300 – 1500 = 4800.**

Diabound scorned, "This monster is weaker than the other one!"

Shizuka explained, "Daffi may be weaker than Lily but her effects make up for it. When Daffi do battle damage, I can make you discard a card from your Hand!"

Diabound scoffed, "But I have no cards in my Hand."

Shizuka countered, "That's fine with me! If you have no cards while Daffi dealt damage, I can draw a card and gain more life points!"

"What?" Diabound was surprised.

Injection Angel Daffi was still charging at the giant baby doll with her own giant needle. Diabound quickly activated his face-down card, "I play Dark Spirit of the Silent!" [**T1**] Its face-down trap card revealed a picture of a ghost with an orange glow around it, "This trap card allowed me to negate one attack and transfer that attack to another monster!" The ghost suddenly came out of the trap card and entered Injection Angel Daffi, stopping her attack. The ghost came out of her back and entered Cure Mermaid that was forced into Attack position, "I transfer that attack to Cure Mermaid and I know you can guess which ghost possessed next." The mermaid suddenly attacked by force but a purple ghost erupted from the mermaid and struck Shizuka in the chest.

**Diabound: 4200 + 750 = 4950. Shizuka: 4800 – 750 = 4050.**

Shizuka groaned as the end of her turn had come and the "A" appeared on the Ouija Board, bringing her closer to death.

Diabound drew its card, "Draw! You're closer to your death but I felt like inflicting more pain to you. Dark Necrofante, destroy her Cure Mermaid!" The baby sent out a loud shattering cry that destroyed the mermaid with the power of sound waves.

**Diabound: 4950. Shizuka: 4050 – 1000 = 3050.**

Shizuka cried as the pain stabbing her heart became more powerful than before. She fell on the ground, nearly about to become unconscious. Her eyes were showing signs of weaknesses and tiredness. She was breathing difficult as she tried to get up.

"If you give up now, it would make things much easier for us." Diabound suggested.

Shizuka clenched her fists and she went up on her feet, "I can't…my friends' lives were on stake here…"

Diabound mocked, "Foolish girl. Too bad for you that I didn't get a bad draw or I would have to sacrifice Dark Necrofante to Dark Sanctuary. I summon Winged Minion [**M6 (2/700/700)**]," A little blue imp flied onto the Field with its small dark wings and bald head. It wore a brown covering around its wrist, "I sacrifice Winged Minion to keep Dark Sanctuary!" The mouth suddenly swallowed the poor Imp.

Shizuka knew it was her turn. She struggled, "Draw." She gasped slightly as she drew another sister and white rain restored a little bit of her Life Points.

**Diabound: 4950. Shizuka: 3050 + 500 = 3550.**

"I place one card face down!" A set card appeared on the Field and Shizuka quickly played the card she drew, "I summon Injection Angel Tulip in defense!" [**M7 (3/400/1500)**] Another girl appeared this time and she was dressed in the same nurse uniform as her younger and older sister. Tulip was the middle sister of the group for she was shorter than Lily and taller than Daffi. She wore thick glasses over her cute knowing eyes. She had violet colored hair tied into two thick pigtails behind her head. She held a medium-sized needle as it was a sub machine gun.

"Another one?" Diabound asked in suspicion but laughed softly, "No matter, your death is inevitable."

"I activate Injection Angel Tulip's effect! By paying 1000 Life Points, I can destroy one spell or trap card on the Field!" Shizuka grinned, "The card I wanted to destroy is Ouija Board!" The purple-haired nurse took flight with her wings and her glasses flashed. She aimed her needle and fired vaccine in shapes of spherical bullets. The bullets struck the dark sky, "Success!" Shizuka smiled slightly, "When Tulip successfully destroys a card, she gets to gain 2000 ATK during battle!"

**Diabound: 4950. Shizuka: 3550 – 1000 = 2550.**

Diabound chuckled, "Is that so? How impressive."

Shizuka didn't like his chuckle and then she realized that the Ouija Board was not destroyed. She gasped, "How come it doesn't work?"

"Your efforts are futile," Diabound replied, "The Ouija Board cannot be destroyed as long as Dark Necrofante is on the Field! Even if you do destroy Dark Necrofante, I can send it back to my Hand to prevent the Ouija Board from getting destroyed. After that, I can remove three demons again to special summon this wicked child. You can't defy your destiny! You have failed!"

Shizuka's eyes were wavering as she was shocked of her failure. She collapsed on her knees and touched the ground with her hands. She closed her eyes, letting a few tears touch the ground, "I….I…I end…" She couldn't see any way of winning this duel. The Letter "T" appeared on the Ouija board, bringing one letter closer to the end of the duel.

Diabound just laughed manically even though its mouth was not moving, "You're pathetic, foolish human. Do not worry, everything will end soon." The demon drew its card and played it, "I summon Skull Knight #2, [**M8 (3/1000/1200)**]" A demonic skeletal warrior adorned in black shining armor with yellow edges around the armored parts came to the Field with blood red glow inside its eye sockets. It carried a wicked red blade in its hand. "To sacrifice it to the Dark Sanctuary!" The mouth came again and swallowed the poor demon knight. Diabound looked at Shizuka with an evil glint in its curved eyes, "It's your move, weakling…or do you wish to end it now?"

Shizuka still looked down as the pressure and the pain finally crushed her duelist spirit. Her eyes were dark and sorrowful as she painfully remembered the tragic memories of her brother collapsed against the dark powers of his opponent at the Battle Tower. She remembered that he wouldn't wake and she thought that he would be gone forever. But her older brother did awake later. She smirked softly, _'Of course…Onii-san is strong…that's why he woke up…he's much better and stronger than me…I can't win this….I'm sorry Onii-san…I can't do it.'_ Her tearful eyes were hidden in shadows.

"Don't give up, Shizuka-san!" A male voice caught her ears.

Diabound was surprised, "An intruder?"

Shizuka looked up and glanced back. Her eyes widened in shock and she gaped, "Alex-san?"

Alexander smiled and greeted, "Hi there."

Shizuka blinked. She blinked again. She blinked for the third time. She finally answered, "But…I thought you were…" She pointed to the floating bodies.

Alexander looked up at them, "That was rather unfortunate for them but I was never captured."

Shizuka blinked in confusion, "Huh?" She looked at the floating bodies and her eyes widened even more in realization. There were only four floating bodies. How could Shizuka make such simple mistake? The duelist looked back at Alexander, "…where were you all this time?"

"Trying to free the others but the tentacles are really hard to break, so I decided to watch you from afar and expect your victory," Alexander smiled.

Shizuka looked down, "What victory? This is the end. There is nothing I can do anymore. I'm nothing without Onii-san."

"Nothing you can do?" Alexander asked, "Surely, you jest. You still have one more turn."

"But…" Shizuka was about to give an excuse.

"Shizuka-san, few years ago, your older brother dueled against my cousin. I heard it was quite a duel and your brother puts up a strong fight. Even though he did lose but he had never give up and you shouldn't too." Alexander advised.

"…." Shizuka remembered how her older brother did many brave actions and she also remembered not to bare her eyes away until the end. He did taught her not to give up and keep her eyes open on her pathway. She smiled slightly, "You're right…it's not over yet."

Diabound was stunned as he sensed her dueling spirit was coming back to her, _'How is that possible? I thought I crushed her like bug….and how did this boy managed to enter the shadow game?'  
_  
"Draw!" Shizuka yelled proudly as she drew her card and white rain sprinkled her.

Diabound: 4950. Shizuka: 2550 + 500 = 3050.

Shizuka grinned as she played the card she drew right away, "I play Pot of Greed and draw two cards!" Two cards floated out of her deck and the white rain showered her.

**Diabound: 4950. Shizuka: 3050 + 1000 = 4050.**

Shizuka smiled, "I summon my trump card, Magical Nurse Angel Rose!" An adorable little girl appeared on the Field. She was the smallest angel of all and had large wide cute eyes. She had short pinkish red hair and her nurse uniform was too big for her. Suddenly a needle appeared behind her, stabbing the ground. [**M9 (3/0/0)]**

Diabound pointed out, "She has no attack!"

Shizuka narrowed her eyes, "You'll see the true power soon enough," Shizuka pointed to her set card, "I activate Gift of Mystical Elf!" [**T2**] Her face down card revealed a blue skinned elf holding a gift of lift in her palms, "For each monster on the Field, I gain 300 Life Points. I counted five, so I gain 1500 Life Points!" Blue crystal sparkles rained gently on Shizuka like dust.

**Diabound: 4950. Shizuka: 4050 + 1500 = 5550.**

Shizuka picked a card, "Then I play this powerful Magic card, Dr. Charlie's Angels!" [**S2**] Her magic card revealed herself, showing Injection Angel Lily, Tulip and Daffi in very cute poses with explosions of pink clouds and sparkles behind them, "To activate this magic card, I must tribute Injection Angel Daffi!" The blonde nurse disappeared from the Field, "Injection Angel Tulip!" The purple-haired nurse disappeared too, "And finally Injection Angel Lily!" The pink-haired nurse also disappeared from the Field too, "To special summon Injection Angel Sisters!" The field exploded with pink clouds and three female Injection Angels had arrived with an enormous needle. It took all of three of them to carry this humongous needle. [**M10 (6/400/1500)**]

Diabound was shocked, "It only has 400 ATK strength!"

Shizuka explained, "All the costs of the three Injection Angels equals to the cost I must pay to use Injection Angel Sisters' effect which means I can pay 4500 Life Points to increase the sisters' ATK by 4500!" Shizuka declared.

Diabound: 4950. Shizuka: 5550 – 4500 = 1050.

Suddenly the humongous needle just became larger than ever. The sisters grunted as they lifted the giant needle above their shoulders. **(6/4900/1500)**

"I play one more magic card, Emergency Angel Rush!" [**S3**] Shizuka revealed a magic card of Injection Angel Sisters rushing a floating stretcher with wings on the side toward the Emergency Room. There was a wounded warrior lying on that stretcher, "This magic card can only activates when I have a monster with Injection Angel within her name on the Field. For the rest of the turn, all magic and trap cards on the Field are negated."

Diabound quivered, "N-n-negated?"

Shizuka smiled, "That means your Dark Sanctuary is negated!" Suddenly the bloody clouds filled with mouths and eyes disappeared and the purple shadows were back, "You no longer have any possessed soul!" She pointed to Dark Necrofante accursedly, "Injection Angel Sisters, destroy that fiend with Gigantic Injection!" Lily saluted, Tulip's glasses glinted, and Daffi just nodded in response to her order. They all took flight with teamwork and charged as the Charge music played in the background. The Angel Sisters stabbed the Baby Doll with the giant needle of pain, causing the poor doll to explode.

**Diabound: 4950 – 2100 = 2850. Shizuka: 1050.**

Diabound blinked in surprise and laughed evilly, "HA! HA! HA! You had me frightened there for a moment there. In the end, you cannot destroy me, so say farewell to your life when Death appears!"

Shizuka smirked, "I still have one more monster."

"You mean that zero ATK girl? Don't make me laugh." Diabound glared.

Shizuka's smirk grew wider, "Whoever said she had a Zero ATK?"

Diabound blinked in confusion and averted his sight toward the little girl. Diabound's curved eyes turned oval as it saw a much bigger needle filled with green liquid behind the little girl, "Nani?" It saw her ATK had changed tremendously. **(3/4500/0)**

Shizuka explained, "Whenever I pay Life Points due to monster's effects, magic, or trap, the Life Points I paid become her ATK."

Diabound finished, "So when you pay 4500 Life Points for Injection Angel Sisters, your little girl gained 4500 ATK…" It had said its end.

"Magical Nurse Angel Rose!" Shizuka ordered, "Attack directly with Injection!" The cute little girl tried to lift the huge needle by herself. When she finally lifted it with great effort, her tiny legs and arms were shaking under the weight.

"Not so fast!" Diabound glared.

"Nani?" Shizuka blinked in confusion. She knew that her opponent doesn't have any trap cards to protect her.

Diabound laughed evilly, "If you dare attack me, I'll kill your friends." Diabound waved its arm and the tentacles wrapped around the duelists became tighter.

Shizuka gasped, "Nani? You said if I win, you will let them go!"

"So what, I dislike losing." Diabound chuckled, "However if you lose…I might let them go…"

"But if I lose…" Shizuka wavered, "I'll lose my life."

Alexander glared at the demon, "That's not fair! Where's your word of honor?"

"There's no honor in the shadow game." Diabound spoke with snide tone.

Shizuka couldn't believe her ears, "….How could you?"

* * *

Just then, two male teachers arrived in the deeper part of the ruin where they saw the dark clouds blocking their way.

Tyrell, Osiris Red Headmaster, blinked in confusion as he never seen them before, "Are these some different kind of mist?" He was about to touch it.

"Don't touch it!" Gabriel, Obelisk Blue Headmaster, reprimanded. He knew there was something suspicious about these clouds because he felt a familiar feeling to this darkness from his mysterious past. He narrowed his eyes, "This is the Shadow game."

"The Shadow game?" Tyrell was stunned, "I thought that was just some folk tale!"

Gabriel stared at the clouds, "It's real, alright. If there's a Shadow game here, someone must be dueling in there."

"Then…" Tyrell curved his hands around his mouth.

* * *

Suddenly, a loud voice boomed right outside the dark clouds, "Hey! Anyone in there!"

Shizuka and Alexander recognized the voice. Alexander looked back, "It's Professor Tyrell." He responded quickly, "We're in here but we're in trouble!"

Tyrell looked at Gabriel with concern, "We gotta save them!"

Gabriel crossed his arms, "We can't go in there without strong spiritual power." He gritted his teeth, _'If I have my power from before…I could just get in there already…but I lost that power…'_

Alexander then had a plan. He yelled back, "If you have a sword, quick! Toss it here!"

"Alex-san?" Shizuka questioned him.

"A sword?" Gabriel looked at the sword in his hand. Having no time to hesitate, he decided to trust his student and tossed the sword into the dark clouds.

Diabound narrowed his eyes, "What do you think you're trying to do?"

Alexander sensed something was coming. He quickly turned around and snatched the sword that recently fell. Alexander smirked, "Excellent. Good thing Von Schroeder taught me swordsmanship." He suddenly made a quick dash past Shizuka toward the captives.

Diabound hissed, "I won't let you!" Its snake tail suddenly extended toward the coming swordsman.

With athletic reflex, Alexander jumped over the snake and landed in front of the tentacles. Few quick slices and the others were free from the deadly tentacles, "Shizuka-san, now!"

Diabound screamed, "No!"

Shizuka nodded quickly, "Rose! INJECTION!" The little girl tried to walk forward but suddenly tripped on her own foot. She suddenly ran forward, screaming as the weight of the needle and gravity pulled her forward. Rose finally let go of the needle which landed unfortunately on Diabound.

**Diabound: 2850 – 4500 = 0. Shizuka: 1050.**

The cards disappeared and the shadow game was over. The clouds disappeared, allowing the older professors to see the students. Diabound just dissolved away with the last remaining clouds. Shizuka had won. She cheered, "I did it!"

Alexander clapped, "Congratulations, Shizuka-san."

They heard few groans from awaking hostages.

Izumi groaned, "What just happened?"

Tsubaki held his head, "ARGH, I felt like I just had one nasty hangover!"

Rad turned his head to Tsubaki, "Really? I thought I had a nice dream."

Rebecca blinked, "Shizuka-san, what's going on?"

Shizuka just smiled as she was glad to see them back, "It's nothing. It's good to see you all well."

Izumi blinked, "Um…thanks, Shizuka-san."

Tsubaki finally remembered, "Ahhhh! The treasure!"

His loud outburst caused the ruin to shake, causing everybody to have an uneasy feeling.

Izumi had a sweat droplet, "Tsubaki?" Her forehead vein was twitching.

Tsubaki panicked, "I did nothing! Really!"

Rebecca was staring at the male Osiris Red student with red angry eyes and numerous forehead veins twitching.

Tsubaki panicked even more, "Really! I seriously did nothing!"

Gabriel interrupted, "This isn't the time to blame someone. We have to get out of here before the ruin fell on us."

Tyrell glanced around, "Hey, we're still missing one student!"

"Yuki is still missing…but," Alexander looked up, "the ruin is going to collapse very soon…" Suddenly stones from the ceilings were falling and crashed on the ground.

Shizuka screamed as the stone nearly hit her. Rebecca yelled, "We have to leave, now!"

Izumi shouted, "What about Yuki?"

Rebecca replied, "I don't think he's here!"

Izumi retorted, "Yuki is here…I know he's here…"

Tsubaki pointed to another door, "There's another way!" Izumi quickly rushed there, "Hey!" Tsubaski chased after her.

Rebecca grabbed her head, "Those idiots!"

**TBC**

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Dark Necrofante: Dark/Demon/8/2800/2200**: Effect: This card can only be special summoned by removing three demon subtype monsters from the Graveyard and Dark Necrophia must be in the Graveyard. This card cannot attack a player directly. When this card is on the Field, the [Ouija Board] and [Spirit Message] cannot be destroyed. When this card is in the Graveyard, you can return this card to your hand to negate the activation of a Spell card, Trap card, or Effect Monster's effect that destroys [Ouija Board] or [Spirit Message] and destroy that card.

**M2 - ****Possessed Dark Soul: Dark/Demon/3/1200/800**: Effect: Tribute this face-up card. Take control of all face-up Level 3 or lower monsters on your opponent's side of the field until they are removed from the field.

**M3 - ****The Earl of Demise: Dark/Demon/5/2000/700**

**M4 - ****Earthbound Spirit: Earth/Demon/4/500/2000**

**M5 - ****Injection Angel Daffi: Earth/Spellcaster/3/400/1500**: Effect: During the Damage Step when this card battles, you can Pay 1500 Life Points to have this card gain 2500 ATK during the Damage Step only. When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent, discard 1 random card from your opponent's hand. If your opponent has no cards in his/her hand, you can draw 1 card.

**M6 - ****Winged Minion: Dark/Demon/2/700/700**: Effect: Tribute this face-up card. Select 1 face-up Demon-Type monster on the field. Increase the ATK and DEF of the monster by 700 points as long as it remains face-up on the field.

**M7 - ****Injection Angel Tulip: Earth/Spellcaster/3/400/1500**: Effect: Once per turn you may pay 1000 life points to destroy one Spell or Trap card on the Field. If you successfully use this effect, this card gain 2000 ATK during the Damage Step only.

**M8 - ****Skull Knight #2: Dark/Demon/3/1000/1200**: Effect: If you Tribute Summon a Demon-Type monster by Tributing this monster, Special Summon 1 "Skull Knight #2" from your Deck. Then shuffle your Deck.

**M9 - ****Magical Nurse Angel Rose: Earth/Spellcaster/3/0/0**: Effect: Every time you pay life points by the effect of a Monster, Magic or Trap card effect, increase this cards attack by the same amount until the end phase of your turn.

**M10 - ****Injection Angel Sisters: Earth/Spellcaster/6/400/1500**: Effect: This card can only be summoned by the effects of [Patient's Fantasy]. During the Damage Step when this card battles, you can Pay 4500 Life Points to have this card gain 4500 ATK during the Damage Step only. Every turn you may increase your life points by 400 for every monster with [Angel] in its name in your graveyard. The turn in which this effect is activated it can not attack.

**S1 - ****Graceful Charity – Spell**: Draw 3 cards from your Deck, then discard any 2 cards from your hand.

**Spirit Message "E" – Continuous Spell**: This card can only be placed on the field by the effect of "Ouija Board".

**Spirit Message "A" – Continuous Spell**: This card can only be placed on the field by the effect of "Ouija Board".

**Spirit Message "T" – Continuous Spell**: This card can only be placed on the field by the effect of "Ouija Board".

**S2 - ****Dr. Charlie's Angels – Spell**: Tribute [Injection Angel Lily], [Injection Angel Violet], and [Injection Angel Blossom] and special summon [Injection Angel Sisters] from your hand or deck.

**S3 - ****Emergency Angel Rush – Quick-play Spell**: This can only activate when there's a monster with [Injection Angel] within its name on the Field. Negate all magic and trap cards on the Field till the end of the turn.

**T1- ****Dark Spirit of the Silent – Trap**: This card can only be activated during your opponent's Battle Step. Negate the attack of 1 monster and select another 1 of your opponent's face-up monsters and have it attack. (If the new targeted attacking monster is in face-up Defense Position, change it to Attack Position.)

**T2 - ****Gift of the Mystical Elf – Trap**: Increase your Life Points by 300 for each monster on the Field.


	28. 15B: The Ruin's Finale

**Author's note: **Eh, this is a short chapter. It can't be helped since I have to shorten the duel to fit our King of Thieves' trump card. But hey, to make it up for the shortness, I introduce a new mercenary and a new fusion! I hope you like this and now we finally reach the conclusion of this mini arc! I hope you guys enjoyed this arc, I know I did!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh!

**

* * *

Chapter 15 Part B**

Kurai appeared once again on the TV screen, facing right. Facing left was Kurai's opponent, a shadow dressed with the King of Thieves' cape. Between these two duelists was E-Merc Blazing Windman facing a trio of Necro Soldier. After a second, the official logo of Yu-Gi-Oh GX materialized on the bottom right corner.

* * *

One shadow game ended in the party's favor but another game still continued on inside the dark ruin. However due to the result of the finished shadow game, the ruin became weak as the demon guardian was defeated by the Ra Yellow duelist. The pillars were collapsing, the ceilings were falling, and the stone floor tiles were dropping one by one. The duelists knew that they should evacuate the ruins quickly but two duelists had left the party in search of their friend or treasure if the certain Osiris Red Duelist is lucky.

Izumi was yelling through the loud rumbling noises of many heavy structures were falling, "Yuki! Yuki! Where are you?" She continued to shout as the deafening sound drowned her.

Tsubaki was avoiding the falling rocks from the ceilings, "WOAH!" He jumped sideway before a rock spike nearly skewered him, "Hey, Izumi, are you positive that Yuki is here?" He shouted to Izumi.

Izumi nodded once to confirm Tsubaki's uncertainty. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled louder, "YUKI!"

* * *

Somewhere in the crumbling ruin, Kurai was having a life and death duel with the shadow that wore the cape of the King of Thieves. Kurai stared at the ghosts of the shadow's deceased monsters with dread because he couldn't help but felt something bad would happen. His feelings were right as he felt a slight tremble on the ground and almost lost his balance. He asked immediately, "What's going on?" His attention lost focus on the ghosts hanging around.

The shadow chuckled, "The ruin is falling. It seemed your friends destroyed the pillar that kept the ruin up, now they should pay the consequences." The shadow smirked evilly.

Kurai narrowed his eyes and snapped, "Are you saying, I'm going to be buried here?"

The shadow laughed, "If we don't finish this duel quickly, we would both be buried here," His shadowy eyes glinted wickedly, "Unless you surrender and give your body to me."

Kurai gritted his teeth, "Like Hell I would give my body to an ass who can't even take care of his body. I will win this. Hurry up and finish your move!" He was getting impatient with the shadow.

The shadow pressed his button, "Patience is virtue," The ground trembled even more, "I play my last card!" He grabbed the last card in his small Hand, "I summon Necro Soldier [**M1 (4/0/0)**] in Defense!" A small toy-like soldier appeared on the Field. It was dark-blue skinned with blank toy eyes. It wore a red European uniform with a thick black hat. It held a sword and rifle over its shoulder, "I end my turn." He snickered slightly.

Kurai glared as he drew his card, "Draw!"

"Hold it right there!" The shadow interrupted, "When it is your standby phase, my Necro Soldier's effect activate! I can special summon another Necro Soldier!" The second toy soldier appeared next to the first one, "Since my second Necro Soldier is on the Field, during your standby phase. I can activate its effect, allowing me to summon the third Necro Soldier!" The third toy soldier appeared next to its fellow comrades.

Kurai was pissed as he thought to himself, _'Already he summoned two more monsters but luckily they only had zero defenses.'_ He slammed one card on his Duel Disk, "I summon E-Merc Stone Guarder [**M2 (4/800/2000)**] in attack mode!" The giant stone bodybuilder materialized on the Field, holding the heavy spiked shield easily with his hand, "I order Blazing Windman and Stone Guarder to attack both of your Necro Soldiers!" The winged warrior flied high and fired a purple flaming hawk that burned the Necro Soldier to ashes. The Stone Guarder roared his battle cry as he charged slowly toward the second Necro Soldier and flattened it with his stone shield, 'This is all I can do for now.' He declared as the two deceased soldiers became ghosts, "I end my turn." He ignored the slight shook of the platform.

"Draw!" The shadow drew his card as rocks were falling through the shadow ceiling. He smirked evilly as he drew the card he need, "I play a magic card, Killing the Counterbalance!" [**S1**] His magic card revealed a sharp dagger that pierced through many duel monsters cards, "At the end of our turn, we must discard cards from our deck equal to the total monsters on the Field! So when your turn ends, you must discard seven cards from your deck."

"Seven?" Kurai questioned, "I only have two monsters and you only have one. Are you blind, moron?"

"You're the blind fool," The shadow laughed evilly and then he pointed up, "You forgot about them!" He pointed to the four ghosts floating around, "They do count as monsters on the Field."

Kurai retorted, "But you also have to discard cards too!"

The shadow smirked, "Not really since my Graveyard is gone, I cannot discard any cards from my deck." He laughed.

Kurai narrowed his eyes,_ 'So this is his purpose all along! He's trying to make me lose when I ran out of cards! Damnit.'_ Kurai clenched his fist.

"However you gonna have to discard more cards," The shadow grinned as he played the last card in his Hand, "I summon Necro Mannequin!" [**M3 (3/500/500)**] A white mannequin doll appeared on the field upside down. Its face only contained one red eye while its body contained four distorted arms. Its lower body part had two sprawled legs attached.

Kurai groaned, _'Now I have to discard eight cards.'_

The shadow knew what Kurai was thinking and he revealed his facedown card that had a picture of many colorful variations of Necro Mannequin, "I activate my trap card, Necri Cycle! [**T1**] When I have Necro Mannequin on the Field, I can special summon another Necro Mannequin!" Another twisted doll materialized on the Field and joined its undead friends, "Your turn."

More rocks continued to fell through the shadow field, crumbling across the stone platform. All the weights were putting large pressure on the chains that held the stone platform.

"Draw!" The Osiris Red Student drew his card.

The shadow interrupted, "My Necri Cycle activate! Since this trap card activates every turn, I can special summon another Necro Mannequin!" The third twisted doll appeared on the field.

Kurai knew he had to finish this quickly, _'The best thing I can do is to attack him directly. But first,'_ He snatched one card from his Hand, "I summon E-Merc Bolt Assassin!" [**M4 (4/1600/1000)**] A warrior of pure lightning appeared on the field and used its magnetic power to attract metallic armor to him, "I'll destroy all your monsters! Stone Guarder, attack with Rock Smash!"

The Stone Guarder charged again and raised its heavy shield high. He brought it down with great force and squashed the Necro Soldier into nothing. Kurai ordered his second monster, "Bolt Assassin, attack with Lightning Stab!" The lightning warrior charged up and fired a sharp bolt of lightning that cut through one of the shadow's mannequins, "Blazing Windman, destroy it with Blaze Hawk!"

The winged warrior immediately took flight and aimed its hawk cannon at the mannequin.

"Not so fast!" The shadow quickly activated his last face-down card, revealing a picture of a soldier crawling through a narrow corridor, "I activate another trap card, Narrow Cloister! [**T2**] You can only attack with two monsters only, making your third monster's attack invalid!" The flying warrior flew down and landed softly.

Kurai gritted his teeth, _'Damnit! He kept summoning more monsters while limiting my attacks. Not only that…'_ Since he ended his turn, he suddenly had to discard 11 cards from his deck, _'My deck is getting smaller!'_

The shadow chuckled, "What's wrong? Are you that upset that you just lost eleven cards? Heh, don't worry, you still have that red box to help you out by giving you two hundred Life Points for each card discarded."

**Kurai: 3700 + 2200 = 5900. The shadow: 2000.**

The shadow laughed again, "Of course, having more Life Points doesn't really matter since you now only had 15 cards in your deck."

Kurai groaned, _'That means in two turns, I'll lost! With limitations on the number of attacks, I won't be able to do any damage to his life points. Even if I let Blazing Windman attack these dolls with 500 Defense. I can only do 1000 damages in two turns. Damnit…'_ He glanced at his Polymerization [**S2**] card in his Hand, 'Even if I create Thunder Titan with E-Merc Stone Guarder and E-Merc Bolt Assassin, this guy will just summon more monsters.'

"Draw!" The shadow drew his card while his smirk just increased in width, "I summon Necro Wall!" [**M5 (3/0/0)**] Another weird zombie appeared on the Field. It resembled a wall with many tortured faces and tentacles sticking out of it, "Then I end my turn which activates my Necro Wall's effect! At the end phase of my turn, Necro Wall can special summons Necro Wall Token equal to the number of undead monsters on the Field! Since I have two Necro Mannequins, I can special summon two Necro Wall Tokens!" Two more zombie walls were materialized. The shadow now had five monsters defending his life points.

_'Just great. Now there are 14 monsters on the field,'_ Kurai glanced at his small deck, _'I only had 15 cards and soon as I drew one and end my turn, I have to discard all my cards. The next turn will be the end of me! Damnit, I can only rely on the card I drew…'_ Kurai hesitated to draw his last card,_ 'Why am I shaking? Don't tell me…..I'm scared?'_ He couldn't draw his last card.

The shadow grinned and laughed evilly, "Now do you see your loss? You can never defeat me with your low rate skills!"

Kurai looked down as he remembered his loss against Hiroshi the Dynast and the person who he hated in his childhood, _'Damnit all, why am I losing so much?...No more!'_

Yami Kuriboh scowled, "Kuri! Kuri!"

Kurai looked up to the flying fur ball, "I don't even know what the hell you're saying…but…I would only lose if I don't draw," He smirked as his golden eyes shone with determination, "And I refuse to lose here. I refuse to lose anymore. I came here to get stronger and I will! Draw!" He drew his last card and glanced. His smirk grew wider as luck once again blessed him, "I summon E-Merc Aquatic Priestess!" [**M6 (3/800/1200)**] A light-blue skinned female mercenary had revealed herself in a beautiful sea green costume. She wore a skimpy sea-green costume made out of scales that entirely covered her upper body except it revealed her pale blue chest and neck. Her bra resembled a fish fin and her armored shoulder pads resembled the waves. She wore a long beautiful gown that flowed gently like the river and a helmet that covered her eyes but let her long silk hair flowed in the wind. She wielded a long lake blue staff that contained a turquoise orb on the top, "I can't use her effect now but I use this magic card, Polymerization!" A swirling circle appeared below E-Merc Stone Guard and another circle appeared below E-Merc Aquatic Priestess. Both circles sucked the warriors, "I fuse E-Merc Stone Guarder with E-Merc Aquatic Priestess to summon E-Merc Dwindling Cleric!" [**M7 (6/1200/3000)**]

Suddenly a huge rock pillar rose from the ground and then it was quickly swallowed by a powerful pillar of water. The pillar disappeared, revealing a new female warrior. She had long silver hair that only reached slightly beyond her neck. She wore a lake blue colored helmet over her face with wings on the sides that looked like waves and made out of granite. The Cleric wore a long silk water blue robe with golden decorations. She wore an armored skirt made out of marble and attached to her spine were marble armor with stone spikes floating over her shoulders and body protectively. She wielded a long staff made of white stone with an ocean blue crystal in its natural state on the top.

The shadow was suspicious of Kurai's move, _'What is he planning?'_ The shadow knew that this was Kurai's last move but he doesn't know what his fusion monster can do. He knew it had weak ATK but it must have a powerful effect.

Kurai declared, "I activate my E-Merc Dwindling Cleric's effect!" The Cleric's staff glowed brightly, "Her effect allows me to switch a face-up monster's position!"

The shadow gasped, "Nani?"

The crystal of the Cleric's staff flashed and muddy waves were formed below the Necro Wall. Suddenly the waves caused the shadow's Necro Wall reverted into attack mode. Kurai explained the drawback of the Cleric's effect, "However when I use that effect, I have to pay 400 Life Points and I only need to do it once!"

**Kurai: 5900 – 400 = 5500. The shadow: 2000.**

The shadow gaped as he realized that his monster had zero attack power, allowing Kurai to inflict a lot of damage to his remaining Life Points. He knew that he's dead….well dead again.

It was Kurai's turn to smirk evilly, "You're finished. E-Merc Blazing Windman, destroy Necro Wall with Hawk Blaze!" The Blazing Windman soared high inside the shadow realm and opened its hawk cannon. The cannon created a tiny sphere of purple fire that suddenly burst into a giant hawk of fire that consumed the wall into ashes.

**Kurai: 5500. The shadow: 2000 – 2100 = 0.**

The shadowy walls slowly disappeared, revealing the tomb room. The shadow just stood there with his red cape.

Kurai grinned, "I win. Now give me the prize."

The shadow just smirked as he laughed evilly.

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "What's so funny!" Suddenly one of the four chains broke and Kurai lost his balance as the platform tilted sideway in one corner, "NANI?"

The shadow continued laughing, "You may have won the duel but you have already lost. Your fate is here with me!" He laughed manically.

Kurai tried to get up, "Damnit, I gotta get out here." He quickly tried to run to the door but the second chain broke, causing the stone platform fell completely vertically. Kurai immediately grabbed on to the edge of the stone tiled floor, "Damnit!" He noticed that the shadow had disappeared but he had no time to question about it. He quickly climbed to the top of the platform to get to the stairway but suddenly the third chain snapped apart. Kurai nearly lost his hold, "Almost there." He knew he had to get the stairway quickly. He climbed even faster despite the falling rocks assaulting his shoulders and head, "GOT IT!" He was about to touch the ledge of the stairway but suddenly the fourth chain broke and the stone platform fell into the abyss along with Kurai. He just stretched his arm forth but he couldn't reach it in time.

Kurai slowly closed his eyes and accept his coming death until he felt four hands grabbed both of his arms. His eyes snapped open as he looked up to see two familiar "idiots."

Izumi struggled as she held one of Kurai's arms, "Yuki, hold on!"

Tsubaki groaned as he held his other arm, "Damnit, Yuki! When we live, you need to go on a diet!"

Kurai was surprised and mumbled quietly, "Idiots."

Izumi yelled as she tried to pull him, "PULL!"

Tsubaki pulled harder, "I'M PULLING!" They both yelled as they finally dragged Kurai back to the stairs. All three Osiris Red students panted as they were exhausted.

Kurai only said one word, "…Thanks."

Izumi smiled as she wiped the sweats off her forehead, "No problem, Yuki."

Tsubaki panted, "Yeah no problem. Can't you believe I rather save you instead of getting the treasures?" Suddenly the ruin shook even harder, "Never mind, let's just get out of here!"

* * *

Meanwhile Rebecca, Shizuka, and Alexander were waiting right outside the falling ruin. Rebecca had her arms crossed and she was tapping her feet, "They're not coming out!" Her voice was strict but there were hints of concern.

Shizuka was pleading with her hands clenched together, "Please, let them be alright."

Alexander just stood there calmly with his arms behind his back, "They'll be fine."

Shizuka looked at Alexander, "Really?"

Rebecca pointed to Alexander accursedly, "How can you be so calm? Your fellow classmates are in danger!"

Alexander stared at Rebecca with serious look in his eyes, "As long as you have utmost faith in them, I wouldn't need to worry," He closed his eyes, "Belief is a very strong emotion."

Rebecca looked down with her eyes in concern, "But…."

Rad's face was filled with concerns, a rare expression on his usually smiling face as he stared at the entrance of the ruins. He averted his head to Alexander, "Shouldn't we gone with them?"

"We should have…" Alexander smiled knowingly, "but I had a notion that this is only that an Osiris Red can do."

Rad blinked in confusion but understood slightly, "I guess…"

Tyrell smacked Rad's back, "Don't worry, Ra kid! We, Osiris Red, are really tough! Since we started on the bottom, we have to be really strong to get out of this rut!"

Gabriel stared at the ruins with his arms crossed, _'What caused the shadow game…just what is inside that ruin…? I need to investigate." _His eyes widened as suddenly, there was a loud crash as the inside of the Ruin caved in.

Shizuka gasped with great shock.

Rebecca just gaped, "Oh my God…"

"No way…" Tyrell swayed his head in disbelief.

Rad's eyes widened in shock. He stepped forward and yelled out their names as he desperately held on to hope that they're alive, "Tsubaki! Izumi! Yuki!"

Then they heard slight rumblings as they saw three students sticking out of the rubbles.

Alexander smiled, "I knew they're going to be alright."

Tsubaki groaned as he was bleeding from his head. He laughed, "We made it."

Izumi suffered from minor bruises, "Yeah…Remind me not to go through this again."

Kurai just shrugged, "Hmm."

Izumi and Tsubaki twitched and yelled at him at the same time, "This is all your fault, you know!"

Kurai just walked past them and replied coldly, "No one ask you to save me."

Tsubaki's right eye was twitching out of complete annoyance and his forehead vein was throbbing.

Izumi looked down, _'Yuki is still cold as ever.'_

Kurai stopped in his path and continued, "But…thanks anyway…Izumi…Tsubaki."

Tsubaki blinked and Izumi just gaped. She smiled, "You're welcome, Yuki!"

Tsubaki smirked, "Hey Bud, since we're finally on first name basis, can I call you Kurai?"

Kurai twitched, "Don't push your luck."

Izumi noticed their friends rushing to them. She ran forward and waved, "Hey, we're back!"

Tsubaki also walked forward into the new light of the day, "Man, all these crap and I can't even find one treasure."

Kurai just closed his eyes as he was glad that this was over. He noticed something slightly heavy in his pants. He reached for his pocket and took out a circular black pendant that contained a blue orb in the center. Kurai just stared in silence, 'Is this…?'

Izumi shouted to him, "Yuki! Let's go home!"

Kurai looked at her and then he glanced back at the pendant. He shrugged and wore the necklace since black was his favorite color anyway.

Rad ran up to them, "You guys are okay!" He noticed Kurai's new item, "Hey, where did you get that necklace?"

"Necklace?" Tsubaki quickly noticed Kurai's new item, "How come Yuki get to have a treasure and I don't!"

Alexander chuckled, "Don't you have the greatest treasure of being alive?"

Tsubaki complained, "That doesn't count!"

Rebecca just watched the students chatted among each other happily. She sighed as she raised her arms in disbelief and swayed her head, "I give up. These kids are really stronger than I thought."

Shizuka smiled as she enjoyed the friendly sight, "It's good that they're alright."

Tyrell grinned, "You know, dangerous adventures like this just prove their manliness within."

Rebecca called, "Tyrell."

"Yeah?" Tyrell asked.

Rebecca retorted, "Just shut up."

Gabriel just headed back to the Duel Academy, not wanting to be part of the group. He then felt a dangerous presence and quickly looked back toward the ruins. But there was nothing there and the dangerous presence had disappeared. He narrowed his eyes, _'…Was that just my imagination…?'_ He decided to drop it and started walking back.

Tyrell noticed Gabriel leaving, "Hey, Gabe, wait for me!" He followed Gabriel. He yelled back at the students, "Come on, guys! We're leaving! Don't lag behind!"

They started walking back as they were all anxious to have a nice rest after what happened in the ruin. Kurai remained behind as he glanced at the ruin, _'At the end…I never got that power…Tch…I'll just become stronger my own way…'_ He walked to the others unaware of two set of eyes staring at him.

The shadow stood on top of the ruin, "A new game has begun and you are my new contestant, Kurai."

Yami Kurbioh just floated around, "Kuri. Kuri."

The shadow smirked evilly, "Yami Kuriboh, I expect you to keep eye on my new precious host while I rest. Soon, Pharaoh, I'll have my revenge and you won't even expect it." The shadow dissolved and became part of Kurai's new pendant.

**TBC**

**

* * *

Rad: **Isn't that great? I'm a sucker for a happy ending!

**Shizuka: **…um…I'm not sure if it's really a happy ending….because Yuki is going to be kicked out.

**Rad: **Eh, seriously, but why?

**Shizuka: **Yuki lost against the Dynast, so he failed his exam. He also entered the forbidden ruin where we're not allowed in the first place…so he broke lot of rules…

**Rad: **No way! Yuki! Don't leave! I didn't even get a chance to duel with you!

**Shizuka: **But Yuki has a chance. He just needs to win a double tag duel!

**Rad: **Alright! Our first tag duel! Awesome, who's our opponent? **::he looked at the list: **Eh, Lisa and Vanessa? Are they good or something? No matter! Yuki, you better take them down!

**Episode 16: Tag Duel! Kurai's Second Chance!**

**Shizuka: **We might have to say bye to Izumi-san too…

**Rad: **Eh? When did that happen?

**

* * *

Card of the Day – E-Merc Dwindling Cleric**

**Alexander chuckled: **A powerful defensive monster with quite a fascinating effect. Not only there, it takes a new female monster to fuse into this card.

**Tsubaki: **Huh…so this is Yuki's second female card. You don't see that often, I wonder why.

**Alexander: **Well, it's a sad fact that men are psychically stronger than women. Back in the Medieval Age, it's usually the men to fight. **::he smiled:: ** If I was in the Medieval Age, I would be a handsome prince with expertise in rapier.

**Tsubaki: **Heh, I would be a treasure hunter/dragon tamer!

**Alexander: **Oh, that wouldn't work.

**Tsubaki: **Eh? I can't have two job classes?

**Alexander: **It's not that.

**Tsubaki: **Then what?

**Alexander: **I didn't think you would qualify to be a man.

**Tsubaki: **….what's that supposed to mean?

**Alexander smiled: **If we're going to be part of mercenaries under Yuki's control, he would never let you be a warrior or anything since you're not even worth squat in his eyes.

**Tsubaki: **….low blow, Alex. Low blow.

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Necro Soldier: Dark/Undead/4/0/0**: Effect: If this monster exists on the field in each of your opponent's standby phase, the player can summon another Necro Soldier onto the field.

**M2 - ****E-Merc Stone Guarder: Earth/Warrior/4/800/2000**

**M3 - ****Necro Mannequin: Dark/Undead/3/500/500**

**M4 - ****E-Merc Bolt Assassin: Light/Warrior/4/1600/1000**

**M5 - ****Necro Wall: Dark/Undead/3/0/0**: Effect: In the player's end phase, the player can place Necro Wall Token equal to the total number of undead sub-type monsters on the field.

**M6 - ****E-Merc Aquatic Priestess: Water/Warrior/3/800/1200**: Effect: If this card is the only card in your hand, you can Special Summon it in attack mode. When this card is successfully Normal Summoned, Special Summoned, or Reverse Summoned when it is the only card on your Field, your opponent must discard 2 cards at random. If your opponent discards a monster card, you may take on monster of the same level or lower from your Graveyard and add it to your hand.

**M7 - ****E-Merc Dwindling Cleric: Earth/Warrior-Fusion/6/1200/3000**: [E-Merc Stone Guarder] + [E-Merc Aquatic Priestess]: Effect: You can pay 400 Life Points to change the position of one face-up monster on the Field. You can only use this effect when this card is in face-up attack position during Main Phase.

**S1 - ****Killing the Counterbalance – Continuous Spell**: At the end phases of both sides, the players have to discard their cards from the decks into their cemeteries. The number of discarded cards is equal to the number of total monsters on both fields.

**S2 - ****Polymerization – Normal Spell**: Fuses 2 or more Fusion-Material Monsters to form a new Fusion Monster.

**T1 - ****Necri Cycle – Continuous Trap**: If Necro Mannequin exists on the field while this card is played, the player can summon another Necro Mannequin specially onto the field in each turn.

**T2 - ****Narrow Cloister – Normal Trap**: Your opponent can only attack with up to two monsters only.


	29. 16A: Tag Duel! Kurai's Second Chance!

**Author's note: **Since we are finally done with the mini Ruin arc, we will now return to random snippets of Yugioh GX episode! During the ruin's timeline, it was Manjoume vs. Misawa's duel. And that we're forwarding to this episode and timeline, we're skipping SAL Monkey duel, Psycho Shocker duel, and Duel Tennis! We are now in episode 16 of GX and here. I hope you enjoy it and please give more reviews. More reviews equal more inspiration!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh! And credit goes to GLL99 for subs of Yugioh GX 16.

**

* * *

Episode 16: Tag Duel! Kurai's Second Chance! Part A  
**  
Few days had passed since the unfortunate incident inside the South Duel Academy ruins where a student dared to enter. That particular action resulted more students and three professors following him into the ruin and rescuing him. When the students were finally found near the ruin, they were immediately taken to the hospital for medical care. The principal, Kamil, decided not to bother those students since they dealt with such tumultuous event. Kamil decided to wait until they were fully recovered. However, just when the Osiris Red Students were about to be fully recovered, the principal had conduct a meeting with the Headmasters of the dorms to decide the fate of one Osiris Red troublemaker.

On the top floor of the Duel Academy, the Principal was inside a meeting room consisted of large long table and comfy chairs. The walls were made of sound proof glasses that were so thick that outsiders wouldn't see what's going on inside this room. The silver-haired Principal was sitting at the far end of the table with a small blonde female professor, Rebecca, standing near the wall right behind him. Each row of the table consisted of three chairs, bringing the total of six headmasters.

On the left row, the first chair was occupied by the Headmaster of the Obelisk Blue boys' dorm, Professor Gabriel. He was dressed in his blue custom-made suit trench coat over his black pant and shirt. He wore a blue tie and a black fedora. The second chair was occupied by an older gentleman, Professor Schmitt, Headmaster of the Ra Yellow boys, who had short willow brown hair that was neatly combed and he wore a thin squared glass, making him look like a dignified man. The last chair was occupied by the youngest one, Professor Tyrell, the Headmaster of Osiris Red boys. He wore a red custom-made red sports jacket over his simple T-shirt and long sport shorts.

On the right, the first chair was vacant but the second chair was occupied by a woman with an outer worldly aura and closed eyes. She wore a Ra Yellow priestess robe over a thin silk pant. She was Professor Anya, the Headmistress of the Ra Yellow girls' dorm. Finally, the third chair was occupied by a woman with beauty marked with strictness. She had maroon-colored hair with Osiris Red Uniform designed as a teacher's clothes. She was Professor Morgan, the Headmistress of the Osiris Red boys' dorm.

The Principal started, "Since Zenobia is currently not here, we might as well start it anyway. This meeting is about the punishment of an Osiris Red student, Kurai Yuki, a duelist with exceptional talent. Normally, it would be up to the Osiris Red Headmasters to decide the punishment but… Kurai did an unforgivable crime, so we must discuss his future status but first what's the status on his current health, Doctor Schmitt?"

Schmitt pushed his glasses up his nose, showing his importance, "He only suffered minor damages since he miraculously survived the fall of the ruin and today his bandages should be removed."

Kamil replied, "So he's in fine condition, that's good news but we must now make a choice for Kurai. Should we allow him to stay or," He narrowed his closed eyes together, "expel him from the Duel Academy?"

Morgan slammed the table with her fist, "It's quite clear that Kurai Yuki must be expelled from the Duel Academy!" The teachers had a sweat droplet, "This troublemaker broke a very strict rule and not only that, he also involved other students too and put them in great danger!"

Rebecca quickly interrupted, "Hold on just a minute! We went to the Ruin by our own choice!" She did follow the students deep into the ruin.

Morgan pointed out, "But you went inside the ruin for the purpose of rescuing Kurai, who went to the ruin alone in the first place, isn't that correct? So it was his fault for involving other students in his mad reckless sense of trouble!"

Rebecca glared and thought to herself, _'You're just saying all these stuff because you want him out of here!'_

The Principal raised his hand to block Rebecca, "Don't speak, Rebecca. Professor Morgan stated her opinion. Would anyone would like to speak their opinion?"

Schmitt spoke, "I would to speak, Principal. Kurai had committed a serious crime. That is the fact. But there's another fact that Kurai is indeed an excellent duelist. He showed excellent scores in his written exam and displayed amazing dueling skills against Professor Tyrell and Shadow," Tyrell nodded, "defeated one of our top Ra Yellows and Obelisk Blues, and almost on the equal standing with the Dynast. I'm afraid if we expel this student, it would be waste of rare talent. A good duelist does display the fame and strength of our school."

"But at the same time, a duelist like him would show the weakness of our school." Gabriel crossed his arms, "He had broken the rule of the Academy. And if we let him do whatever he wants just because he's an exceptional, then we the Professors had failed to raise a proper duelist. A duelist should have respect and this student did not really have any. I feared that he might make a bad name for this Academy."

Morgan nodded as the argument went on to her side.

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold on just a minute!" Tyrell intervened, "Why are we making such a big deal out of this? I mean he only broke one rule."

"It was an important rule, you dumb moron!" Morgan roared, "You know, it's because of your lazy carefree attitude, our students are lacking in manners!"

Tyrell countered, "If I messed with them, then I would mess with their potential. You know, you gotta let the seeds grow and everything will work out."

Morgan crossed her arms, "That's just lazy talk."

Tyrell explained, "This kid only broke one rule, shouldn't we just give him some kind of warning?"

Morgan argued back, "The point is, this "KID" broke a very serious rule that could have resulted death!"

Tyrell smirked, "But he's still alive!"

Morgan shouted, "WITH INJURIES!"

Schmitt pointed out, "They are only minor, not very serious though."

The maroon haired woman yelled, "But this student brought others in danger too!"

Tyrell retorted, "They knew the risks and dangers plus they survive too. There's nothing wrong, is there?"

Morgan glared at Tyrell and then she took out a folder with photos of the temple being in ruin, "Their interference messed with a historical place."

"Now this ruin became historical?" Tyrell raised his eyebrow in suspicion, "Why I am not surprised that this is the first time I heard of it? Beside this kid had a reason for going there, right, Rebecca?"

Rebecca looked up in surprise, "Well, I heard from others that he went there to become stronger."

"See!" Tyrell exclaimed, "He went to the ruin to become stronger. He knew the dangers and the deaths there. You gotta admire his manly determination. You don't see those sorta qualities in many duelists nowadays!"

Morgan scoffed, "Maybe if you actually take the time to discipline other students, he wouldn't be the only one."

Tyrell smiled, "I don't need to know. I already know that my students would be great duelists."

Kamil sighed and asked the final Headmistress, "Professor Anya, what about your um… "spiritual" opinion?"

Anya who had her eyes closed was murmuring in dark language as she shook a small bag. She then tossed random items such as animal bones, gems, and sorts of mythical items cross the table. She was silent for awhile as she gazed upon those items and then started to pick them up, "The spirits were happy."

The Principal questioned, "Does this mean you want the student to stay?"

Anya picked up all the contents and continued, "The spirits were happy until this child entered the ruin. When he entered the ruin, the spirits cried and screamed." She held her head, "So many screams of horrors and tears of despairs. I can feel their fear," she let go of her head as she gave her answer. "This boy will bring great trouble in the future. It would be very wise to let him go."

"I see, so it is three against two." The Principal declared, "Then Kurai Yuki should be expelled."

Rebecca gasped, "But Principal…"

Morgan offered, "Should I get the paper works then?"

"How rude….you started the meeting without me?" A woman wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform with few top buttons opened revealing her obvious beauty over a thin blue dress, making her looked like a fashion model. She had long silk raven black hair. Her smirk was bewitching combined with a rather dark look in her beautiful face.

Rebecca quickly recognized this woman as Zenobia, the Headmistress of the Obelisk Blue girls' dorms,_ 'Oh great, not her. How dare she come in here so late…..with those….'_ She looked away, _'fake ballons…'_

The Principal gave a wide smile, "Welcome back, Zenobia-san!" He said it with hearts at the end of the sentence.

Rebecca just fell down and had a giant sweat droplet, _'I forgot…..the Principal is a stupid pervert…'_

Zenobia smiled sweetly, "Thank you, Kamil!" She then became serious, "I heard everything. It does bring a bad image to our Academy if we allowed a troublemaker to be unpunished just like Gabriel said but it would be waste of talent if we let an excellent duelist go just like Schmitt."

Morgan scowled as she loathed Zenobia especially when she had the nerve to show up late at a mandatory meeting, "What are you implying?"

"I do think that it would be a great idea to expel him from our school." Zenobia closed her eyes.

Morgan's eyes widened in surprise, "Really?"

"If this student can redeem himself," Zenobia slowly opened her blood red eyes that glowed evilly as she smirked arrogantly because she had manipulated the others into her own smooth hand, "We give him a challenge."

Rebecca shivered as her bones were instantly chilled inside a refrigerator. She hated this chilling feeling that she often received from this older woman. She knew that she was no ordinary woman but of course she would know this fact because all headmasters here were not ordinary. She knew each of them was a top duelist in their primitive age. Schmitt was the Academy's doctor but he wasn't any doctor. He's the doctor that could determine the very potential of any duelists by looking the charts. Morgan served under the strongest military and took duel monsters as hobby. She lived by the rules and she made sure this entire place would live by the rules or the duelists would dare face her wrathful punishments that would sent any duelist home crying. Tyrell used to be the best boxer in the West and his laidback attitude made him extremely popular with the students. He was determined to see how students grow if he left them alone in the wilderness and the students would had to survive by themselves. The strangest headmaster would belong to to Anya. The woman who always had her eyes closed just like Principal Kamil. She might be blind this way but she could see through everything "spiritually." She had the strange ability to communicate with ghosts and spoke their opinions through her netherworld lips.

Time seemed to progress slowly but the meeting was finally over. Rebecca stepped out of the meeting room, leaving the adults to their arguments. She looked down and sighed long out of big relief. The chill had evaporated from her body but she was worried about him. She closed her eyes and took a deep breathe, "It's all up to him now."

"So I take it that the meeting doesn't go well?" A calm gentle voice touched her ears.

Rebecca tilted her face up and frowned at the sight of a familiar Obelisk Blue student, "You're not allowed here, didn't you know that?"

Alexander just smiled as he held folders with thick stacks of papers in his hands, "I was told to bring to them to Professor Morgan, but it seemed like she's not going to need it now. So how did it go?"

Rebecca rolled her eyes, "What make you think I'm going to tell you?"

Alexander just laughed softly, "Because I knew Yuki and I knew you. I assumed he's not going to be expelled?"

Rebecca frowned slightly, "Not yet." She looked up to Alexander, the most mysterious person she ever known. Even though she knew of his family heritage but the rest of him remained mystery to her. A tiny part of her wanted to solve that mystery but that's for another time.

* * *

Inside Duel Academia, Obelisk Blue students were having problems with the mysterious duelist that appeared at night and took their cards away in ante duels.

Professor Chronos was walking down the hallway as he was trying to solve this recent problem, "This is bad-no ne…To think that the Obelisk Blue students that I supervise are losing to this unknown duelist…" He stretched out his arms in dramatic pose, "And by violating the school regulations with Ante Rule, no less! If word gets out, I'll be blamed for not supervising them-no ne!" He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in frustration, he then noticed three Osiris Red boys standing in the middle of the hallway. He smirked as he had an evil plan, "That's it-na no ne! I'll simply push this on to them-no ne!" He walked up to the boys, "It's you Dropout Boys!"

"Ahh!" Sho screamed, "It's Professor Chronos!"

Chronos smirked, "I am giving you all a special assignment-no ne."

Judai asked, "A special assignment?" He glanced at Hayato with confused look.

Chronos continued, "If you can fulfill this task well, you will be exempt from doing the report on duel theory!"

"Really?" Judai exclaimed.

"Eh?" Sho looked at Judai with fear in his eyes, "This is dangerous, aniki!"

"Really, na no ne." Chronos assured, "Just look into my eyes-no ne." He grinned evilly, "This should…"

Judai interrupted, "Alright, I'll do it!"

Sho and Hayato gasped. Sho clenched his head in worries and Hayato sighed in disappointment, "Judai…"

Judai questioned, "So, what's the assignment about?"

Chronos leaned toward Judai, "At the moment, in this academy, there is a fellow who challenges others to a duel with the Ante Rule-no ne. You are to capture that person and expose their identity-no ne."

Judai asked, "You mean the Giant Duelist of the Dark Night?"

"Eh?" Chronos was surprised that Judai knew about it. He leaned back, "A-anyway, I've something to do." He walked away, "Canzone…" He snickered wickedly, _'Thanks to this, it would befit them to find that mysterious duelist. Even if he loses and has his rare card taken, it'll work out well-na no ne! Sorassone…' _He walked further down the hallway.

* * *

Few blocks away from the Duel Academy, lied couple of fancy huts set across the shallow ocean. Inside one of the huts, a red-spiked hair boy was complaining to his roommate.

"Yuki!" Tsubaki yelled out of frustrations.

Kurai, the blue dual-color haired boy was simply lying on his neat bed, reading magazine about what's happening lately in the world of Duel Monsters. He was ignoring his annoying roommate on purpose to annoy Tsubaki greatly and not wasting his breathe. However, his annoying cries were definitely bothering his ears. He answered, "Hnn?"

"Aren't you even worried? Do you know that you could be kicked off the island?" Tsubaki was upset that his "sort-of" friend was being so calm about it.

Kurai flipped a page and shrugged, "Hnn."

Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched out of annoyance as this cold brat annoyed him to no ends. The red-haired teenager snapped, "At least show some concern! I'm showing some concern, am I!"

Kurai flipped another page, "Hnn."

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tsubaki grabbed his hair and pulled them, trying to subdue the annoyance with physical pain. He heard a strong knock on the hut's door, "Huh?" He went to the front and opened it, "Hello?" He blinked in confusion as he saw no one there, "Hello?" He looked around and still saw no one here. Tsubaki frowned slightly, "Weird." He suddenly faced an upside down but familiar smiling face. Tsubaki just stared at him with his eyes widened in shock.

Rad, the American Ra Yellow student, was hanging upside down from the roof. He waved as he gave a toothy smile to shocked Tsubaki, "Yo!"

Tsubaki just responded by turning pale white and then…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Few minutes later, Rad was inside the room, rubbing a large bump on his head, "Ouch…." He was teary eyed, "That really hurt, Tsubaki!"

Tsubaki roared with red angry demonic eyes and sharp jaws, "Then stop scaring me like that if you don't wanna get hurt!"

Rad laughed, "Why would I stop? It's my own personal greeting for you."

Tsubaki shouted, "ARGHH!" He vented his frustrations out of the opened window toward the ocean.

Rad ignored the annoyed duelist and talked to Kurai, "Hey Yuki! You're really popular around the Academy again! Rumors were flying everywhere!"

Tsubaki stuck his head back in and grumbled, "Why I am not surprised? It's been few days since we came back from the stupid ruin."

Rad smiled as he looked up to Tsubaki, "Oh yeah I forgot to ask! Do you get to find any treasure?"

Tsubaki glared, "There were treasures but we have to rescue this cold guy here! All that dangers and walking crap, we winded up with nothing!" He raised his arms out of anger.

Rad sweat dropped, "Um…okay…" He went back to Kurai, "Are you going to be expelled? If you are, I want to have a duel with you before you're gone!" He gave a thumb's up.

Kurai just simply flipped another page as he finished reading the previous page, "Hnn."

Tsubaki snapped again, "How can you be seriously calm at a time like this? Don't you want to go the pro league?"

Kurai stopped moving his pages and looked up at Tsubaki's eyes, "Not really." He replied concisely as he went back to his magazine.

Tsubaki was taken back from Kurai's response, "Huh? Isn't the duelists' dreams to participate in the Pro League?"

"Not mine," Kurai answered, "I only wish to beat one person."

Tsubaki asked, "One person? Oh…" He finally remembered it, "I forgot about that…but you never really told us who is this one person."

Rad suggested, "Maybe, it's the Dynast?"

Tsubaki replied, "I don't think it is since he mentioned this person he wanted to beat before dueling the Dynast," He moved his head back to Kurai, "So you don't really care if you are expelled?"

"Hey! Ain't no one is getting expelled, well…not yet." A voice grabbed the duelists' attention. The duelists looked back to see Professor Tyrell.

"Professor Tyrell?" Tsubaki was surprised, "We haven't seen you around for awhile."

"Hey, that's cruel! Gabe and I just save your butts at the ruins few days ago!" Tyrell pointed to himself, "Remember?"

Tsubaki crossed his arms as he tried to remember, "Hmmm….Nope, you don't ring a bell. I remember Alex telling us that he saved us…." He shuddered, "from tentacle rape."

"That does sound disturbing," Tyrell interjected, "but who gave Alexander the sword, hmm?"

Rad answered, "Professor Gabriel?"

Tyrell sweat-dropped, "Well…that's true….but I did something!"

"If you have done something," Tsubaki pointed out, "we would have remember it."

Rad nodded, "Yeah, that's true."

Tyrell gasped, "You guys are cruel! Anyway, that's not the main subject here! I was gonna explain Kurai's situation."

Tsubaki questioned, "So Yuki is not expelled?"

Tyrell groaned as he was thinking hard, "Maybe…Carol can explain better but she had some business to do."

Tsubaki didn't hear the rest of the Professor's words after Maybe, "Do you hear that, Yuki? You're not expelled! I gotta tell this to Izumi," He realized something, "Hey, where is Izumi?"

* * *

Some huts away, a maroon haired girl just recently closed a suitcase on the top of the empty bed inside an empty room. Izumi looked down as she picked up her own suitcase and headed toward the door. She opened the door and was about to leave but she looked back as she remembered the fond memories of her room. She whispered, "Good bye." With that, she closed the door and would never open it again.

* * *

Kurai slowly stood up from his bed and narrowed his amber eyes, taking the Headmaster's words with serious attention, "What's the catch?"

"Catch?" Tsubaki averted his attention from the girl to Kurai, "What do you mean?"

"You're an idiot." Kurai replied dully as he closed his eyes out of annoyance.

"Hey!" Tsubaki whined, "What did I do to deserve that?" The red-haired teenager demanded to know.

Kurai explained, "Do you honestly think they would let me stay after breaking a rule?" He opened his clear amber eyes, "There's obviously a catch here."

Tsubaki understood, "Ohhhh. That does make sense."

Rad laughed with closed eyes, "Tsubaki, how can you not catch that? You're slow, aren't you?"

Tsubaki turned around to glare at Rad, "Shut up!"

Tyrell coughed to grab the boys' attention, "You're sharp, kid. There is a catch but I'm sure you can figure it out," His green eyes stared directly at Kurai's sharp amber eyes, "After all, you're a duelist."

"Wait a minute," Tsubaki realized that Kurai was the only one who is in trouble, "How come we're not in trouble? We entered the ruin too."

Tyrell faced Tsubaki, "Well you guys are in luck, the Academy decided to look this over since you guys went into the ruin for a good reason, saving your friend which is a real manly thing to do."

Tsubaki waved in embarrassment, "Aw shuck, I just did what I have to do."

Rad blinked in confusion and said it bluntly, "But didn't you go into the ruin for trea…"

Tsubaki quickly covered Rad's mouth and had a giant sweat droplet behind his head. He laughed it off, hoping to make the others ignore them, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Radnor, you're such a joker! Ha! Ha! Ha!" He kept Rad's mouth shut even though he was turning blue.

Tyrell tilted his head in confusion and commented, "I didn't hear any joke."

"What's the catch?" Kurai asked while crossing his arms, hated to be ignored when he wanted answers.

Tyrell scratched his face cheek and answered, "Well I don't really remember, heh heh."

Tsubaki finally let go of Rad and gaped, "But you just had the meeting today!" Rad was gasping for air as he silently thanked the heavenly being for letting him live.

The boxer had a sweat droplet in front of his forehead and he explained, "I don't really pay much attention to the meeting since I didn't really care about it," He smirked, "So I just leave the complicated stuff to Carol!"

Tsubaki pointed at Tyrell accursedly, "You're just lazy!"

Tyrell waved his hand and stopped him, "Hey!" He adjusted his jacket as he tried to look cool and dignified, "I prefer the term "relaxed.""

Tsubaki just yelled, "That's practically the same thing anyway!" Tsubaki groaned, "There's seriously too many strange people on this island." He looked at Tyrell, "So where's Headmistress Morgan?"

Tyrell shrugged, "Eh, who knows? Maybe she's cleaning one of her prized torture devices." Suddenly his head was smacked by a metallic clipboard, "OUCH!" He looked behind and saw the familiar maroon-haired woman, "That hurt!"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Speak of the devil…"

Morgan scoffed as she put away her clipboard, "I knew your muscle-for-brain wouldn't comprehend such simple task."

Tyrell pouted, "I have feelings, you know."

Morgan noticed Rad and frowned, "A Ra Yellow student playing around in the Osiris Red Dorms? How very disgraceful. If I catch you messing around," She suddenly gave her death glare, "I'll make sure you will never step in this place again."

Rad had many sweat droplets pouring on his head, "…Um Yes, Ma'am…"

Tsubaki shouted at Rad, "Hey Rad, let's fool around!"

"Okay!" Rad exclaimed happily and then he realized what Tsubaki planned him to do. He glared with slight frown in his lips, "Hey, you were trying to kick me out of this place!"

Tsubaki snapped his fingers, "Darn, I was so close."

Tyrell interrupted, "Anyway, it took you long enough, Carol."

"Morgan and I have some business to deal with." Morgan said it rudely without any apology in her tone.

Kurai asked again coldly, "Now she's here, what's the catch?"

Morgan narrowed her eyes as she frowned upon Kurai's rude tone, "Since the muscle-brain couldn't explain, I'll explain it for you." She stared at Kurai with a serious expression, "Kurai Yuki, you had broken a very special rule by trespassing in the ruin. Your punishment should have been expulsion."

"Huh, but I thought Yuki is not expelled?" Tsubaki rudely interrupted her.

Morgan gave Tsubaki another deadly glare of her, "He will be if you interrupt me one more time!"

Tsubaki had numerous sweat droplets and kept silent, not daring to provoke her rage further.

Morgan continued, "However, the Academy decided that your talent is indeed incredible, so it would be a waste to expel you. Therefore, we are going to give you one more chance by winning a duel."

Kurai's serious expression grew into a cold smirk as he replied in bored tone, "That's it?" He said it as it was easy.

Tsubaki had more sweat droplets around his head as he knew that Kurai would dare provoke her rage. Kurai was that kind of person.

Morgan's another forehead vein twitched, showing her anger was growing but she remained calm, "So you think this is easy, hot-shot? Well I'm not finished. This is no regular duels that you usually take. No, this is the tag-duel."

Tsubaki mouthed to Rad, 'Tag-Duel?'

Kurai lost his cocky expression as he became serious again, "Tag-Duel? Who are my opponents or my partner?"

Morgan answered, "Your opponents remained a secret. So you better be prepared. As for your partner, you are given the choice of any student of the Duel Academy. You may even ask the Dynast to be your partner. You have the entire day today to pick your partner because this tag duel is tomorrow," She narrowed her eyes, "But beware. This tag duel is different from what you think."

Tsubaki was stunned, "Oh man, I gotta tell Izumi about that!"

Morgan recognized that name and averted her sight to Tsubaki, "You would not need to tell her."

Tsubaki gulped as her sight sent shivers through his backbone but he spoke, "Um why not? Unless this is going to be broadcast all over the place."

"It will be broadcast in everyone's PDA to show how we deliver our punishment to our student." Morgan explained with strong distaste.

Kurai smirked, "What punishment? I just need to win, that's all."

Morgan's another forehead vein twitched as her hatred for the troublemaker kept growing, "Ignoring that, but that is not the reason."

Tsubaki asked, "Then why?"

Morgan closed her eyes, "She is no longer the student of the Duel Academy."

Tsubaki gaped as he absorbed this shocking bad news, "Wh…Wh….Wh…" He couldn't say anything. This bad news was too much for him. They were getting along so well. To think that his best friend would be leaving so soon was too painful. He looked at Kurai for an answer to this situation. However, Kurai just stood there unaffected by the news. Tsubaki's eyes widened in shock as the third member of the trio didn't say anything. How could he not care? Tsubaki wanted to punch those words into him.

Morgan walked out of the hut, "Now excuse me. I have to see this student off in an hour from the port." She walked down the bridge above the water.

Tsubaki rushed up to the entrance of the hut and yelled, "But why? Why is she leaving? I thought we're excused from entering the ruin!"

Morgan continued down the bridge, "I don't need to answer that."

Tsubaki glared with fiery anger in his eyes as he punched the wall, "Damn it all!"

Rad showed concern in his eyes and he finally asked, "Professor Tyrell, do you know anything about this?"

Tyrell looked down, "I'm not going to beat around the bush and be frank about it. It was brought up in the meeting."

Tsubaki removed his fist from the wall as he looked at the Professor, pleading for information, "Then you know why?"

Tyrell answered, "The gal had missed the Promotion Exam and not only that, she also missed the Entrance Exam. We let that go at first but this is the second exam she missed. We don't know what her worth as a duelist was and she didn't even bother to show it. We'll have to remove her from the island."

Tsubaki stared in shock and then he looked down with his eyes covered by shadows, "Just for that?"

"Sorry kid, I wish I could do something but my hands are literally tied," Tyrell suggested, "You should go see her off." He also left the hut.

Rad sighed disappointedly, "This really sucks big time. I like Izumi. It's only the half the fun without her around."

Tsubaki's face remained down in sadness then he heard the door opened. He quickly looked up and saw that Kurai was leaving. He asked, "Where are you going?

Kurai replied in a bored tone, "Looking for partners."

That was the final straw. That was it. How could he not care for her? Tsubaki clenched his fist and he roared as he suddenly tried to punch Kurai but Kurai blocked it by grabbing Tsubaki's fist with his hand. Tsubaki's eyes were on fire out of pure anger as he tried to push his fist through Kurai's hand. He snapped, "How can you not care? What the hell is wrong with you? Izumi and I just wanted to be your friends! And yet you are being such a stupid cold hearted stiff bastard like you always were! Izumi skipped her promotion exam because she wanted to help you! Without Izumi, we would never have saved your cold sorry life! AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY HER?"

Kurai pushed him so hard that Tsubaki fell on the floor. He glared at the duelist below him, "That was her choice and her fault. Now I'm going to look for partner and it's obviously not going to be one of you." He silently left his room.

Tsubaki groaned as he clenched his fists and he punched the floor roughly, "You're such an asshole….Yuki…"

Rad looked at Tsubaki sadly, "Tsubaki…"

* * *

An Obelisk Blue female student with long shining blonde hair was walking down the pathway outside in the bright sun surrounded by natural greenery. She flicked her shining model's hair over her slender body and smiled with her gorgeous lips, "I'm so gorgeous." Then Lisa snapped, "How come I didn't get much scenes! A beautiful attractive young sweet heroine like me should have plenty of scenes!" She narrowed his eyes and gritted her teeth, "It's all that poor city girl's fault! She took away all my scenes and she had the nerve to hang out with other hotties!"

Suddenly the entire scene blackened out and a spotlight appeared right above Lisa. Her face expressed sincere sadness with few tears coming out of her eyes. Sorrowful violin music was playing. She sniffled, "What do I ever do to deserve this cruelty? The poor city girl is the one who's wrong. I'm just a poor sweet innocent woman with an unbelievable hot body."

"Miss Lisa!" A high-pitched voice yelled, making the violin music came to a screech.

Lisa recognized the sound and frowned as her private special moment was interrupted. She smoothed herself and turned around gracefully, "What is it, my loyal aide, Vanessa?"

Vanessa was out of breath as she had run miles to give this information to Lisa. She composed herself and yelled, "Lord Yuki is not going to be expelled!"

Lisa gasped and clasped her hands, "That is wonderful news! Our beloved Lord Kurai Yuki is going to stay with us! I fear that we got off to a bad start and we haven't," She sniffled dramatically, "patched anything up."

Vanessa continued on, "But in order for Lord Yuki to stay, he had to participate in a tag duel tomorrow and win!"

Lisa gasped again, "A tag-duel? Such difficult thing to do but I'm sure our brilliant Lord Yuki will win. Who is this handsome man's partner?"

Vanessa answered, "He gets to choose any student here."

Lisa gasped for the third time and had a dreamy look in her eyes, "You mean, I could be Lord Yuki's partner?" She put her hands around her face and dreamed, "I can imagine it now. Once I fight by Lord Yuki's side and display my amazing powers, he will immediately fell in love with me and then we'll get married and then we'll have children." She sighed happily, "It's such a wonderful life."

"There's more!" Vanessa interrupted Lisa's dream.

Lisa waved at Vanessa, "Oh hurry up and say it, I want to stay in my lovely dream." She said it dreamy.

Vanessa suddenly became all dramatic as she was confessing to the entire world, "Kitamori Izumi is expelled!"

Lisa gasped dramatically with lightning struck the dreamy background. Her jawbone slowly changed into a wide grin and her ruined background was replaced by flowers and festive music was playing. Lisa exclaimed, "That's the best news I heard all day!" She grabbed Vanessa's hands and danced around in circles, "The witch is leaving! Rejoice to the world and handsome duelists! Fate has chosen me!"

Vanessa had a giant sweat droplet as she was dragged around by Lisa, "Um…Lady Lisa…" She tried to get her attention.

Lisa was still dancing, "Not now, Vanessa! Can't you see I'm happy? I want to celebrate!"

Lisa heard a cold voice, "Will you get out of my way?"

Lisa twitched as her happiness was interrupted again, "Do you know who you are speaking to? I won't tolerate your horrible behavior!" She noticed Vanessa who was panicking and gave hand signs to stop talking. Lisa realized what Vanessa was saying and she gulped, "…Lord Yuki is behind me, isn't he?"

Vanessa nodded frantically.

Lisa laughed nervously and turned around to face Kurai's cold glare, "Heh. Heh. Heh. Hi, Lord Yuki, I didn't know you were there. All that stuff I just said, I didn't really mean it."

Kurai scowled, "You're blocking."

Lisa gulped, "Of course! My apology!" She and Vanessa moved out of the way, letting Kurai walked past them. Lisa just remembered the tag duel and rushed up to him, "Lord Yuki! I heard that you're going to have a tag-duel for a chance to stay in this school."

Kurai just ignored her and continued walking on.

Lisa tried again, "I also heard that you need a partner. Well take my advice, you need a powerful partner for a tag-duel and," She flicked her beautiful hair, "I want you to know that I'm available for that position." She winked.

Kurai stopped in his tracks.

Lisa gasped and she looked at Vanessa with glee. She looked back at Kurai, "Could it be that you're willing to accept me?"

Kurai slowly turned around and gave the coldest glare from his amber eyes. He only said one word, "Denied."

Lisa gasped dramatically as her jawbone suddenly dropped and she turned white with dramatic lightning bolts striking everywhere behind her.

Kurai scoffed and then he walked away from the girls.

Lisa just gaped in shock and muttered, "Lord Yuki rejected me. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She suddenly shrunk in the dark background all the way to the nothingness. But in reality, Lisa just fell unconscious.

Vanessa gasped, "Miss Lisa!" She tried to fan the poor heart-broken blonde girl.

An exotic beautiful voice spoke to the girl with the bob-cut hair, "Hello, Vanessa."

Vanessa slowly turned her head as she recognized the voice, "Headmistress Zenobia."

* * *

Meanwhile inside the port at the edge of the island, Izumi was sitting on one chair of many rows of chairs reserved for students who took cruises to go back home during vacations. However Izumi was not going back home for vacation but permanently. She was kicked out because she was a loser. She missed two exams and she only dueled few times. Such acts were unforgivable.

Izumi sighed sadly but she smiled slightly, "It's not really the end of the world. I mean I made so many memories here. And it all started with him…"

She remembered when she first met him.

_The maroon-haired girl quickly stood up and brushed off the dust off her skirt. She bowed, "Sorry about that." She faced him directly, "My name is Kitamori Izumi!"_

Then she also remembered when she first met Tsubaki.

_The boy smiled, "I'm Tsubaki Ryozai!"_

Of course, she remembered meeting Alexander.

_She noticed Alexander walking up the stadium stairs. She walked up to him, "Hey there, great duel!"_

There was also, Radnor, the late newcomer of the group.

_Rad smiled as he waved, "Yo! Tsubaki! I came all the way from the dorms to see you!"_

_Izumi smirked slyly as she joked, "Tsubaki is really popular among guys."_

Izumi couldn't help but remember other fond memories she made in this place.

"Can we least talk to each other like friends? You are the first duelist I met!" Izumi exclaimed with a happy smile.

Kurai just stood there, looking annoyed, "…" He slammed the door closed again.

She had so much fun being here with her friends as she continued to remember what she did in the previous few weeks. They met a duelist named Hyun-Ki. They met the annoying duo of Lisa and Vanessa. They met the mysterious duelist, Shadow. They also met the crazy scary man, Domon Yaki, the zealous trainer, Yumi Ikazuchi, and the handsome dancer, Wolx. They also met the cocky former Pro League duelist, Leroy Eagles, and the intelligent duelist, Ethan. She remembered Kurai's first loss against the Dynast and the adventures inside the ruin. She finally remembered her first duel against Shizuka. She closed her eyes as she reminisced what she said before.

"Onee-chan wouldn't want me to give up…" Her violet eyes flashed opened with determination, "I came here to be strong as my sister and I'm not leaving this place until then! Draw!"

She snapped back to reality, "How stupid," She sniffled, "I said I won't leave this place but I really am leaving. Now I'll have to leave all my friends and I would never be strong as my sister." Few tears dropped on her Hane Kuriboh backpack. She quickly covered her eyes with her arms, "No…I shouldn't cry…I'm not supposed to show weakness…" Even though her arms were blocking her eyes, rivers of tears were flowing down her cheeks as she remembered that Headmistress Morgan came to her hut.

Morgan ordered, "Because of your neglecting of your responsibility, you are expelled." She walked away, "We don't need a troublesome weak duelist like you."

Izumi rubbed her eyes roughly, then she slapped her faces, "Stop it Izumi! Stop crying! I won't be weak. I'm not weak." She looked down in depression with no hopes of cheering herself up. She noticed an Osiris Red shoes and she quickly recognized them as Tsubaki. She put on a fake smile, "Hey, Tsubaki, come to see me off?" She looked up and gaped in shock.

"…Hey." Kurai replied.

Izumi just gaped. She never truly expected this. She thought that Yuki wouldn't give a care about her or his friends. For him to come all the way here, it's really a miracle.

"….well? How long are you going to stand there with flies coming in and out of your mouth?" Kurai spoke rudely.

Izumi quickly snapped out of her shock and cleared her throat, "Yuki….I didn't expect you to come here to see me off…"

Kurai crossed his arms and looked away, "I didn't come here to see you off…"

Izumi looked down slightly in depression, "Oh…of course…I should have known that."

Kurai gritted his teeth and asked, "Why?"

Izumi looked up at Kurai in confusion, "What?"

Kurai groaned as he was struggling to say his words. He looked at Izumi's violet eyes with his amber eyes, "Why do you skip your exam and went after me?"

"Oh…that…" Izumi smiled slightly, "Isn't that obvious?"

"….what is?" Kurai wanted to know.

"You're my friend." Izumi closed her eyes and smiled warmly, "That's why."

Kurai just stared at her with slight shock in his expression. He continued speaking, "…even though I'm a cold hearted stiff bastard…you still treated me as a friend?"

"Even if you're hot headed like Tsubaki or just plain weird like Alexander or just insanely positive like Rad, you're still my friend." Izumi spoke with firm determination in her eyes.

Kurai was baffled and scoffed, "You're weird."

Izumi laughed, "Am I always?"

The Osiris Red students heard the doors slid opened and they saw a familiar headmaster.

Izumi spoke her name, "Headmistress Morgan." She knew why she was here.

Kurai narrowed his eyes into a cold glare.

Morgan walked in the port building and saw Kurai, "You? Why I am not surprised? It's not unusual for troublemakers to stick together. Have you already said your byes? Because she's leaving in few minutes." The students heard a boat coming in.

Izumi slowly stood up from her chair, "I had said my byes to him. I'm ready to leave."

Morgan crossed her arms, "Then let's go." She leaded the way.

Izumi took one last look at Kurai, "Bye." The way she said it made it seemed that she would never see him again. She walked forward and slowly followed the Headmistress.

Kurai just stood there and watched her as she went closer toward the exit and about to leave this place forever. Kurai slowly opened his mouth and dared spoke, "Wait."

Izumi stopped and she slowly turned her head toward him, "Yuki?"

Morgan stopped and looked back, "What is it now? She's still leaving."

Kurai's amber eyes shone with determination as he declared, "I haven't said my byes and I'm not planning to. I decided my partner."

Izumi was confused, "Are you talking about the tag-duel?" She already knew about Yuki's challenge from Headmistress Morgan.

Morgan was surprised, "Already? Who then?"

Kurai stared directly at Morgan, "My partner will be…..Kitamori Izumi."

Morgan stared in shock and Izumi's eyes widened. They both yelled at the same time, "HUH?"

* * *

Alexander was staring at the calm ocean from the patio of the Duel Academy. He was silently enjoying the sea breeze and the calm sounds of the waves crashing on the beaches.

Rebecca walked into the patio as she noticed him there, "You're not going to say bye to Izumi?"

Alexander just smiled, "Nah."

Rebecca frowned, "How mean of you."

Alexander just chuckled, "Why do I need to say bye when she's going to stay here?"

Rebecca was surprised at Alexander's comment, "Huh?"

* * *

Back at the port, the long uncomfortable silence was interrupted by a loud brash male voice, "Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh? Izumi is going to be your partner?"

Izumi looked toward the door and exclaimed happily, "Tsubaki! Rad!"

Tsubaki just stood there with his jawbone dropped.

Rad just waved with a toothy smile, "Yo, Izumi!"

Morgan was stunned and then she stuttered, "But…But…But….wait a minute! Kitamori is not a student anymore!"

Izumi winced at Morgan's loud screams and knew that she was right.

Kurai just stood there, unaffected by the Headmistress's words, "Izumi hadn't left the island, so she's still a legal student. I read the rules at the library."

Tsubaki was surprised and it explained why Kurai didn't visit her until the last moment.

Kurai continued, "Also since the ditz is my legal partner, if we win, then she had to stay too."

Morgan touched her head out of great confusion, "Um…Ah…Wh….I need to talk to the others." She quickly left in great hurries.

Izumi just stared at Kurai with new respect, "Yuki…" Her shocked expression grew into a wide smile. She rushed up to him and hugged him, "ARIGATOU!"

Kurai was stunned as he wasn't used to this foreign action, "Ahh! Get away from me!"

Tsubaki joined in the hug, wrapping arms around Kurai and Izumi, "Yuki, you're the man!" He laughed heartily, happy with the news.

Kurai just groaned, "Just get away from me."

Izumi and Tsubaki just laughed as they were too happy to do what the cold hearted boy wished them to do.

Rad smiled warmly as he enjoyed this happy sight and then he grinned crazily as he pointed out, "So you guys know how to tag-duel, right?"

Izumi and Tsubaki stopped laughing as the truth hit them right on the face.

Kurai had a tiny sweat droplet behind his head since he doesn't really work in tag-duel. He's a loner, that's why.

Izumi had a big sweat droplet because she doesn't have a clue about tag-duel.

Tsubaki had an even bigger sweat droplet because he feared for his friends.

Rad just smiled, "You do know how to tag-duel, right?"

**TBC**


	30. 16B: Tag Duel! Kurai's Second Chance!

**Author's note: **So we're now starting the tag duel this chapter. Too bad, it won't end here lol. What, you think I could put this entire duel in this chapter? Please, it would be way too long. I hope you guys enjoy it and please review.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh! Credit goes to GLL99 for subs of Yugioh GX episode 16.

**

* * *

Episode 16: Tag Duel! Kurai's Second Chance! Part B  
**  
The TV screen displayed Kurai and Izumi side by side with Tempest Lady behind Kurai and Oni-Slaying Reiya, a dark-armored girl behind Izumi. There was a large sign that said WOMAN POWER! And of course, the usual logo of Yugioh GX was shown in the bottom right corner.

Kurai was staring at the TV with his eyes hidden in shadow and look of complete disgust.

The narrator had a large sweat droplet on the top of his head. He dared interrupt the long silence, "Um….Kurai-chan?"

Kurai suddenly scowled as his forehead vein twitched and immediately glowed red.

The narrator panicked as his sweat droplet became bigger, "AHHHH! I didn't mean to call you chan…Although you're younger than me…."

"Shut up!" Kurai growled.

The narrator had many sweat droplets pouring all over him as fear overcame him, "Hai!"

Kurai suddenly turned around and gave the narrator the scariest glare, "What the hell is that?" He snapped as he pointed to woman power displaying on the TV.

The narrator had many sweat droplets and pressed his index fingers together. He looked away out of embarrassment, "I have to put that up or Izumi-chan will kill me." He looked back at Kurai and his eyes widened as dinner plates.

Kurai suddenly smacked him flying with a baseball bat, "Baka!"

The narrator was flying so high that his river of tears became stars at night, "I don't know who is scarier, Kurai-chan or Izumi-chan?"

* * *

As soon as Kurai declared that Izumi was going to be his partner and the dread Punishment duel was reported everywhere, the students were excited for tomorrow and hoped to see a good match. On the other hand, Kurai and Izumi had no idea how to tag duel. Kurai's reason was that he worked alone and Izumi's reason was that she never thought of learning it. Luckily for them, their friends decided to help them.

Tsubaki blinked. He blinked again in confusion. He blinked again to make sure it was reality. His golden eyes widened in shock as he gaped. His stunned expression turned into a wide smile as he cheered, "We won! I can't believe it! We actually won against Yuki! Ha! Ha! Ha!" He was jumping up and down on the dueling Field with his tag partner, Rad next to him.

They were facing Izumi and Kurai on the opposite end of the battlefield. Izumi was lying on the ground with swirling eyes as she suffered great damages from holographic monsters. Kurai was crouching on his knees, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists tightly as his pride was greatly wounded.

Alexander just smiled, "Well that was indeed a great duel." He really enjoyed it very much, oh yes he just loved to see his friends suffer.

Shizuka, who decided to help them out, looked at Alexander strangely with a sweat droplet dripping behind her head. She asked Alexander, "Um…aren't Yuki-san and Izumi-chan supposed to win since they're the ones who going to duel tomorrow…"

Alexander smiled, "True but it's their fault for not beating their opponents."

Tsubaki was clapping Rad's hands as they celebrated their victory over the cold hearted stiff.

Alexander looked at the blonde man with glasses next to him, "Ethan, What are the odds of them winning tomorrow?"

Ethan, an Obelisk blue student, was also watching the duel along with Alexander and Shizuka. He calculated, "Yuki and Izumi only have…"

Shizuka questioned, "Have what?"

Ethan said it bluntly, "Zero percent!"

Shizuka had a giant sweat droplet, "How mean…"

Ethan crossed his arms, "I only speak the truth. The only way for them to win was to fight against opponent who won't support each other and that is only ten percent."

Alexander smiled, "Do you hear that, Yuki?" He smiled sadistically.

Kurai growled as he gave Alexander the death glare with his sharp amber eyes.

The calm Obelisk student just chuckled, "Scary." He didn't really mean it of course.

Shizuka commented, "So Yuki-san and Izumi-chan lost this duel because Yuki-san wouldn't support her."

Ethan explained, "His way of fighting indicated that he wanted to finish this duel quickly without any help from his partner."

Alexander closed his eyes knowingly, "Yuki is a loner, of course he wouldn't take any help but this is tag-duel. Things are going to be different."

Shizuka looked at Tsubaki and Rad, "What about them? How was it that they managed to win? Doesn't Tsubaki-san hate Rad-san?"

Alexander chuckled, "Tsubaki may hate Rad but he's smart enough to trust him."

Shizuka was slightly surprised, "You mean that small bond of trust allow them to win? That's incredible."

Ethan explained more, "They're not the best tag-duelists but they dueled each other once before. That duel let them knew each other's decks and dueling style."

Alexander finished Ethan's explanation, "Izumi knew Kurai's deck and she could provide strong supports but her partner would not allow it." He sighed, "Such great disappointment."

Kurai was looking down at the ground with great shock. He couldn't believe that he actually lost to an idiot. An idiot! Kurai clenched his fist tighter out of rage, _'How could I lose? How?'_ He looked up at Tsubaki with his amber eyes drilling holes on the hot headed student's back.

Izumi finally woke up and had a giant sweat droplet on the back of her head as she saw a murderous black aura surrounding Kurai who slowly walked up to Tsubaki, "….Yuki?"

Tsubaki suddenly shivered as he rubbed his arms to keep himself warm, "For some reason, I felt like I'm going to die soon."

Rad had a giant sweat droplet, "Um…Tsubaki…"

"What?" Tsubaki replied.

Rad answered while touching his cheek with his index finger, "Um…you know how you always call me crazy or psycho?"

Tsubaki looked at him with confusion in his eyes, "Um…yeah?"

Rad pointed to the large creepy shadow that resembled Kurai who was holding a large butcher knife behind Tsubaki, "He's Psycho."

Tsubaki looked back and his eyes widened in fear and his mouth plummeted, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Alexander ignored the blood curling scream, "Well that fail, what should we do now?"

Ethan looked at his notes, "Hmm we could make them go through the obstacle course..."

Shizuka blinked in surprise, "We have an obstacle course?"

Alexander smirked, "Of course we do. Izumi-chan! Yuki-chan! We still have one more thing to do."

Izumi gulped, "Not more training!" She panicked in her mind, _'Plus if I failed again, I might suffer the same fate as Tsubaki!'  
_  
Kurai walked off the stage and replied, "Fine." He was covered in fresh blood mixed with his red uniform.

Izumi panicked even more with tears gushing out of her eyes, _'OH MY GOD, WHAT HAPPENED TO TSUBAKI?'_

Rad was poking Tsubaki's bloody body, "Yoo hoo, you alive? Yo?"

* * *

Couple of minutes later, Kurai and Izumi were standing in front of the obstacle course with a rope tied around their body waist, so they wouldn't separate. Izumi's eyes were huge as dinner plates as she stared at the obstacle course.

Ethan explained, "It's very simple. Just get to the goal line. But first you have to jump through tires, climbing with ropes, sliding down the pole, jumping over the flesh-eating piranhas, avoiding falling rocks over the bottomless pit, swimming through the raging flood, running through the forest fire, dodging many death traps, soaring above snapping alligators, running from poisonous king cobras…" Ethan just continued on and on.

With each obstacle that Ethan mentioned, Izumi went pale and paler and paler. Shizuka had a giant sweat droplet as she questioned, "…When did we have this course?"

Alexander smirked, "Just today."

Izumi looked at Alexander and mouthed, "YOU'RE EVIL! EVIL! EVILLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

Alexander smiled and waved, "Good luck."

Ethan turned on his stop watch, "Go!"

Kurai suddenly ran off, dragging Izumi with the rope. Izumi was screaming, "WAIT A MINUTE, WHAT DID THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TAG-DUEL?"

Alexander explained, "It sharpens your bond of trust!"

Shizuka's sweat droplet became bigger and she asked, "Would they survive?"

Alexander looked back with a sadistic smile, "Whatever do you mean?"

Shizuka pointed out, "Um…let's see…..there are hundred things in there that could kill them? I mean…King Cobras and Alligators?"

Ethan reminded Shizuka, "Don't forget hungry cannibals."

Shizuka's jawbone dropped as she gaped, "Cannibals?"

Alexander laughed, "Don't worry, Shizuka-san. I have faith in them. I'm sure they're just fine."

Suddenly they heard a blood curling scream from Izumi and another one and another one. Then they heard loud cusses from Kurai, telling Izumi to shut up and more cusses. Then there were the sounds of loud bangs and crashes and explosions.

Alexander just smiled with his eyes closed, "See, they're just fine!"

Shizuka had sweat droplets all over her body as she didn't really believe him.

* * *

Elsewhere at the Duel Academia, Judai and his friends found out who was the Giant Duelist of the Dark Night. By defeating him in a duel, Judai was able to convince him to give back the rare cards. Deciding not to tell the Ra Yellows' identities to the Professor, Judai let them go.

"A-Aniki! Now that I think of it…" Sho grabbed Judai and Hayato's attention away from the running Ra Yellow duelists.

Judai looked at Sho, "Hmm?"

Sho clenched his fists as he decided to tell the bad news, "Looks like we'll have to write those reports, after all…"

"Ehhhhh?" Judai's eyes rolled up in shock as he just realized.

The next duel, at the Duel Academia, Judai and his friends had to tell Professor Chronos the bad news.

Chronos blinked and raised his arms in confusion, "That mysterious duelist…wasn't there?" He suddenly leaned over to the Osiris Red, "That can't be-na no ne!"

Judai and Sho were sitting at their desks, signing papers from a huge stack on their left side. Hayato was sitting at the row above them, smiling as he found it amusing and glad that he didn't have to write reports.

Judai explained, "We looked for him, but since the guy was nowhere to be seen, you can't blame us, can you?"

Chronos turned away from Judai and held his index finger up near his face, "Some of the Obelisk Blue students had their rare cards taken-no ne!"

Judai countered, "They all properly have their rare cards!"

Chronos looked back and blinked in surprise.

* * *

At that same day at South Duel Academy, the fated duel came very quickly and the entire dueling stadium was packed with students eager to watch the tag-duel. The Principal and teachers were sitting on the VIP seats in a special tiny room above the stadium seats. Unlike the students who sat in plastic blue chairs, they get to sit in comfortable leather chairs with drink and snacks service.

Kamil, the Principal, was wearing a loud tacky Hawaiian outfit with flower necklace and a delightful straw hat. He was drinking a fresh coconut milk directly from the coconut itself. He sipped the bittersweet milk and sighed happily, "Ahhh, this is such a wonderful vacation!"

Rebecca smacked him on the head with her haisen, "YOU IDIOT! THIS IS NOT A VACATION!"

The Fisherman was teary-eyed as he rubbed the large bump on his head, "Wahh, Rebecca-chan is so mean!"

Rebecca snapped with white demonic eyes and sharp jaws, "BE SERIOUS, WILL YA!"

The Fisherman ignored the angry instructor and looked at Zenobia sitting beside him, "I hope you picked an interesting opponent for them."

Zenobia chuckled smugly as she was proud of herself, "Do not worry, Principal, you'll be satisfied with the results."

The Fisherman smiled lecherously, "I can feel that I'm already satisfied by your results."

Morgan coughed to grab the Fisherman's attention, "We are not here to enjoy the duel. We are here to show these delinquents to respect the rules or suffer the punishment." She glared at Zenobia, "She better not pick weak opponents."

Zenobia giggled snobbishly, "Do not worry, Morgan, the troublemakers wouldn't stand a chance against them."

Schmitt affirmed, "Miss Zenobia always made a wonderful selection on Duelists. You should know that she wouldn't let the Princiapl down."

Gabriel stared at Zenobia from behind, _'That's what made me worried. Zenobia is no ordinary woman, she'll do anything to keep Obelisk Blue to be the very top including raising the very best but…this is a test for him…if that guy can't beat them…then I guess he doesn't have what it take to be a future Pro League duelist.'_

Tyrell just yawned, "Can't we get this duel started already? I want to see the excitement! I want to see the passion! I want to see those manliness oozing out of their sweat!"

Schmitt moved his glasses up his nose, "I'm sure there will be enough excitement for you, Tyrell."

Anya just sat in her chair with her eyes closed and her hands in chanting position. She spoke ominously, "The spirits are watching. They expected good results."

Tyrell groaned and glanced at Anya, "Do you have to mention that?"

Rebecca stared through the glass windows and thought about the others, _'I hope you guys win. Oh dammit, I'm getting attached to my students.'_

* * *

Meanwhile, the gang was sitting on the stadium seats near the front, so they could get better view of the duel.

Alexander smiled as he was actually slightly excited, "Today is the day where our unfortunate duelists determine their fate."

Shizuka's worries from yesterday transferred in this day, "Is it really enough for them to trust each other? I mean Yuki passed the obstacle courses safety while dragging Izumi all over." Shizuka sweat dropped as she remember that Izumi made it to the finish line as she was being dragged across the ground with dizzy eyes and beaten up uniform.

Ethan looked at his notebook, "Well the current percentage of their victory is…"

"Is?" Shizuka dared to ask.

Ethan took out a calculator and typed in light speed. He looked at the results and answered, "At least five percent at best."

Shizuka sweat-dropped again, "It's still low?"

Tsubaki crossed his arms and scoffed, "Hmph, I hope that cold hearted stiff bastard lose," He still remembered the awful beating he received from Kurai last night, "But then again I don't really want them to leave." He cupped his hands around his mouth, "Yuki! Izumi! You guys better win!"

Izumi was standing on the dueling field along with Kurai. She heard him and waved back, "We will!"

Kurai just stretched himself, "Hn."

Rad questioned, "I wonder who their opponents are?"

Then a large television screen above the dueling field displayed Professor Zenobia, "We will now begin the punishment tag-duel between Kurai Yuki and Izumi Kitamori," The students cheered, "And their opponents…" Suddenly the stadium blacked out and there was a giant smoke explosion as two familiar women figures were lifted into the dueling field, "Are the Gemini Stars, Lisa and Vanessa!" The students cheered even louder, nearly making everyone gone deaf.

Izumi gaped in shock, "Ehhhhhhh! Lisa and Vanessa?"

Kurai twitched as he remembered the fan girls, _'Great…them again…'_

Lisa's forehead vein twitched as Izumi called her name, "Hey, low-life city girl! Don't call my name like you know me!"

Vanessa yelled, "Don't know her!"

Izumi glared at Lisa, "I'm not a lowlife city girl!"

Tsubaki was surprised, "Eh? Lisa and Vanessa are their opponents?" He grinned cockily, "Alright! Easy win for them!"

Shizuka wasn't smiling, "It's not going to be that easy…"

Tsubaki's smile turned upside down in confusion, "Huh?"

Ethan explained, "Lisa and Vanessa are the best tag-duelists of the Academy. Their notorious skills earned the title of the Gemini Stars."

Tsubaki paled, "….And Yuki and Izumi are fighting against those kind of opponents?"

Alexander just smiled as usual, "Isn't that exciting?"

Lisa clasped her hands together as she was the tragic heroine, "This is indeed tragic," Her eyes were replaced by dramatic tears, "I have to fight Lord Yuki on the other side." She gasped dramatically as she fell on the ground with a spotlight above her, "My gentle beating heart is torn between love and duty!"

Izumi had a giant sweat droplet, "…that's just plain creepy."

Lisa immediately got up and pointed to Izumi accursedly, "This is all your fault, you low-life city girl!"

Izumi retorted, "Huh? What did I do?"

Lisa snapped her fingers, "Vanessa, explain."

Vanessa cleared her throat as she was the announcer, "You are accused of being a witch for corrupting Lord Yuki's mind."

Izumi sweat-dropped again and she snapped, "Oh that's just load of crap! Like hell I would do that! I don't even know what a witch can do!" She looked at Kurai, "Yuki, tell them I'm not a witch!"

Kurai had a tiny sweat droplet and he looked away as he didn't want to get involved in this conversation between girls, "I'm not involved in this."

Izumi twitched, "Coward!"

Lisa gasped dramatically and snarled, "Don't you dare call Lord Yuki a coward!" Suddenly her duel disk activated, "We will free Lord Yuki by beating you!" Vanessa's duel disk activated at the same time.

Izumi smacked her head out of frustration, "Argh! They're mentally insane!"

Kurai activated his duel disk, "Hmph, we only need to beat them."

Izumi sighed out of annoyance, "Yeah. Yeah."

Zenobia on the TV screen, "Now let the Punishment Duel begins!"

All four duelists yelled at the same time, "DUEL!"

"Ladies first." Lisa, chuckled as she drew her card, "then it would be my Lord Yuki's turn next."

Izumi pouted, "Hey, I'm a lady too. Don't I get to go first too?"

Lisa snickered and then it grew into a loud snobbish laughter as she raised her hand right below her chin, "You a low-life city girl a lady?" She laughed even more.

Vanessa, Lisa's tag duel partner, also laughed along with her.

Lisa finally stopped laughing and glared at Izumi, "Don't make me laugh!"

Izumi had a tiny sweat droplet behind her head and she waved her hand meaning that she brushed Lisa's comment aside, "Yeah, yeah, yeah right. You just laugh, you hypocrite!"

Lisa gasped and sneered vehemently, "How dare you call me that!" She crossed her arms, "I won't take insults from the likes of you!"

"Yeah, how dare you insult her!" Vanessa yelled practically the same thing as Lisa.

Izumi retorted with blank white angry eyes and pointed accursedly at the elites, "You called me low-life city girl, So it's fair that I get to call you whatever I want!"

"Uh-uh!" Lisa countered.

"Uh-huh!" Izumi replied.

Both girls continued on and on with the same repeating comments.

Kurai, Izumi's tag duel partner, was twitching with many of his forehead veins throbbing due to the verbal matches between girls. He finally snapped, "Just start the damn duel already!"

The girls cringed as they were frightened by Kurai's wrath.

Izumi had a large sweat droplet behind her head and she tried to calm Kurai down, "Jeeze, Yuki, it's just a duel. It's not like anyone is going to die here."

Another of Kurai's forehead veins twitched as the duelist silently thought to himself, _'Oh sure, it's just a duel when our memberships are at stake here.'_

Lisa clasped her hands and pleaded with tearful eyes and flapping eyelashes, "Please forgive us, Lord Yuki. We didn't mean to bother you on purpose." She sniffled, "It was that low-life city girl that dared provoked us."

Izumi took offense on Lisa's accusation, "What?" She looked at Yuki, not wanting to make him thought worse of her already, "Yuki, surely you don't believe that!"

Kurai just looked away and rolled his eyes. He commented coldly, "I'm not really surprised." He knew very well that his female partner tended to cause trouble.

Izumi couldn't believe her ears. Her partner just agreed with their opponents. Her forehead vein twitched and she yelled out of disbelief, "Yuki, how could you say that?"

Kurai replied boredly, "I just speak the truth."

Izumi's forehead vein twitched more than ever. She shouted, "Yuki!"

Lisa raised her hand above her chin and laughed snobbishly, "Ho! Ho! Ho! It seemed that Lord Yuki dislike you. Well of course he would dislike you since you're such a little horrible commoner!"

Izumi directed her anger from Yuki toward Lisa, "At least, I'm not a spoiled brat!"

Lisa gasped theatrically and she glared right back at Izumi with huge sparks in between. They suddenly began bickering with each other like rivals in love.

Okay, not love. Since love was very uncommon subject in the Yugioh dimension and I'm not talking about friendship love. I'm talking about you know what.

Kurai watched all these bickering with great hatred and thought to himself, _'Oh how I would love to kill them.'_

The giant flat TV-screen lowered to the Dueling stage and it turned on, displaying a different Professor. Tyrell sweat-dropped as he tried to intervene, "Um…girls, why don't you just calm down and have a nice safe duel?"

Izumi and Lisa both glared at the Osiris Red Professor at the same time and snarled, "STAY OUT OF THIS!" They said it so angrily that the TV Screen nearly flew away and Tyrell was nearly blown away.

Kurai just had a large sweat droplet behind his head as he pondered, _'What the hell?'_

* * *

Back in the VIP room, Tyrell blinked in surprise, "When are girls this scary?"

Kamil just sighed, "I witnessed it all the time first-hand from a certain…"

Rebecca crossed her arms, "Say another word and I'll send you flying again."

Kamil laughed, "Oh silly Rebecca-chan, what make you think it's you?" He laughed nervously.

Zenobia smiled at Tyrell, "I told you not to interfere with a women's fight."

Tyrell gulped, "Jeeze, now you told me."

* * *

Lisa finally backed away as she proposed, "That's it! We'll settle this right now and right here in a duel!"

Izumi narrowed her eyes, "I agree!"

Kurai rolled his eyes as he smacked his head, _'Aren't we doing that in the first place? Jeeze, girls just have to make things so complicated.'_

"In this tag duel, players are not allowed to attack in the first round. I already drew my card. So I summon White Chess Pawn #1 [**M1 (1/500/600)**] in attack mode!" Lisa quickly slammed a card on her monster slot of the duel disk. A white knight monster appeared on the Field. The monster was made out entirely out of smooth rocks that were connected to each other by invisible strings, making it look like a knight from the outside even though it was actually floating rocks. Its helmet and armor rocks were sculptured to look like a well made armor. The statue was holding a white bow and case of arrows behind its back, "Your turn, Lord Yuki." She giggled flirtingly.

Kurai glanced at her with disgust and quickly drew his card, "I summon E-Merc Wood Elf Archer [**M2 (4/1400/1200)**] in offense!" The Elf mercenary came to the field with its elven made bow, facing the enemy archer, "Then I set one card down and end my turn." He placed one card on the Field.

Vanessa drew her card, "Draw! I summon Black Chess Pawn # 4!" [**M3 (4/2400/0)**] A similar knight appeared on the field. It looked exactly the same as her partner's monster except it was entirely black instead of white. The statue wielded a giant black stone ax instead of a bow.

Kurai's eyes turned wide at slight shock and Izumi had the same reaction except more dramatic. Izumi gaped, "A monster with over 2000 ATK already?"

But suddenly, the black knight crouched on its knee, holding its ax downward. The black knight was set in defense with zero DEF. Vanessa quickly explained the effect, "My Black Chess Pawn #4 is powerful but it has a drawback. It must stay in Defense mode. I place two cards face down!" Two more cards materialized on the Field.

Izumi stared at disbelief, "What kind of card is that? A monster with a scary ATK that had to be in Def with tiny weak DEF. What a weird card."

Kurai was in deep thought, _'There must be something more behind this.'_

Tsubaki was also in deep thoughts, a very rare expression for a person like him. He thought out loud, "I don't get it. Lisa summoned a weak card and Vanessa summoned a strong card. Are they really tag duel partners?"

Ethan's glasses glinted and he mocked Tsubaki's stupidity, "Rather than focusing on the numbers, why don't you focus on the names, fool?"

Tsubaki snapped, "Hey, I don't need anyone to tell me that!"

Rad pointed out, "So you already knew that you're a fool?"

Tsubaki twitched with red anger mark behind his head, "I didn't mean that!"

Kurai glanced at both monsters and wondered, _'Chess monsters? I heard of many connections with it. The Demon Chess monsters and some others.'_

Izumi's eyes widened as she watched her opponents' monsters, _'Are they using a chess deck? My older sister also used a chess deck but their monsters are different. No cards had focused on the White and Blacks but rather the chess pieces. Lisa is using White and Vanessa is using Black….what combinations could they have?'_ She drew her card and looked at her hand, _'Oh crap, this is a bad hand!'_ She groaned, _'For now I'll summon this card.'_ She slammed one card down, "I summon Magicial Girl – Oni Slayer Reiya!" [**M4 (4/1900/1700)**] A black armored girl appeared on the Field but she seemed somewhat different than last time. She didn't have her deadly weapon with her.

"This is all you can do? Draw!" Lisa drew her card, "White Chess Pawn #1 can attack my opponent directly!"

Izumi gaped, "What?"

Lisa pointed her finger at Izumi, "White Chess Pawn #1, attack her with White Arrow!" The white archer grabbed an arrow made out of rock from its bow case and aimed it toward Izumi. It let go, striking Izumi right at the heart, causing the duelist to scream.

**Kurai and Izumi: 8000 – 500 = 7500. Lisa and Vanessa: 8000.**

Izumi groaned slightly but she then clenched her fist and glared at Lisa, "Why me? You can attack him, you know!" She pointed to Kurai.

Kurai twitched, _'This is why I hate girls.'_ Then he quickly noticed the color of Lisa's monster just turned gray like regular stones, _'Huh?'_

Lisa crossed her arms and looked away, "I just don't like you." She snatched one card from her Hand, "I set one card face down!" A card came out, "Turn end."

"Draw!" Kurai drew his card, increasing the number to five, "I summon E-Merc Tempest Lady! [**M5 (3/1000/1000)**] A sky blue armored winged warrior erupted from the ceiling and landed on the Field gracefully, "Wood Elf Archer, attack her White Chess Pawn with Ki Shot!" The archer grabbed his wood arrow and arched it toward Lisa's monster. He let go of the bowstring, releasing the arrow with strong force. The arrow was about to shatter the statue to pieces however…

Vanessa yelled, "Activate Trap Card, Benevolent Pawn!" [**T1**] The trap card flipped up, revealing a black pawn being used as a sacrifice being hit by the white rook while protecting the black king on the top of the chess board. Suddenly Vanessa's monster stood up in attack mode and appeared right in front of the White Pawn. The black statue swung its giant ax and sliced the arrow in half.

"What?" Kurai glared at this sudden movement.

Vanessa quickly explained the effect of her card, "When a Chess monster was being targeted, with this trap card, I turn my Pawn into ATK mode and make it a shield to protect Lady Lisa's monster. Will you still attack?" Her monster was overwhelming with a 2400 ATK.

"Excellent work, Vanessa!" Lisa complimented.

Tsubaki stared in awe, "Woah, their teamwork is nothing compared to our."

Rad sweat-dropped, "Well we're beginners like Yuki and Izumi, at least we know how to cooperate."

Alexander smiled, "Cooperation is very important in tag-duel."

Tsubaki sighed, "But Yuki has none."

Kurai gritted his teeth, "No…I end my turn." The black knight went back to Vanessa's side.

"Draw," Vanessa drew her card and she pointed to her Black Pawn who just went back in Defense, "I can now switch my Black Chess Pawn #4 into ATK mode!"

Both Osiris Red Duelists were surprised.

Vanessa explained again, "When a White Chess Pawn made an attack before this card, this card can attack!"

Izumi complained, "But you don't have a White Chess Pawn!"

Lisa scoffed, "Uh. Uh. I have the White Chess Pawn. And also this is the Tag Duel. So our field is connected as one!"

Kurai growled, "So this is what you're planning."

Vanessa declared her attack, "Black Chess Pawn #4, attack E-Merc Tempest Lady!" The Black Pawn suddenly charged across the Field and raised its Ax high above the Winged Warrior. The pawn brought the ax down, slicing the warrior in half and causing an explosion.

Kurai braced the waves of strong wind and smoke as his monster shattered.

**Kurai and Izumi: 7500 – 1400 = 6100. Lisa and Vanessa: 8000.**

The Black Pawn suddenly turned gray like its former comrade. Izumi prayed that she would draw a good card, "Draw!" She glanced at it and cursed to herself, "Of all days, why do I have to have bad luck? I summon Magical Girl - Card Castor Lilac [**M6 (4/1300/1600)**] in Defense!" A girl dressed in pink frilly dress entered the Field with a magical entrance by spinning in circle, "I switch my other monster into defense too!" Reiya crouched on her knee while holding her arms in cross position, 'this is all I can do for now…'

Lisa drew her card and immediately played it, "I play Pot of Greed!" She drew two cards from her deck and her eyes widened with great interest. She smirked evilly as she drew a trump card. She played one of the cards she drew, "I summon White Chess Pawn #7!" [**M7 (3/1300/800)**] The same knight appeared, made out of white smooth floating stones. This time it wielded a beautifully curved sword. She nodded to Vanessa, obviously giving her the sign to do something.

Vanessa nodded and activated her last face-down card, "I activate a trap card, Pawn Reinforce!" [**T2**] The trap card had a picture of many black pawns standing united on the chessboard, "I can add a number of Pawn Tokens according to another player's number of Pawns. Lady Lisa had two Pawns, so I can add two Pawn Tokens!" Suddenly two black statues appeared on the Field. They looked much smaller than regular Pawns and their armor rocks looked rougher than the Pawns' armors.

Lisa responded by activating her set card, "I play Pawn Copycat Strategy!" [**T3**] The trap card showed a White Pawn facing against the Black Pawn, "When someone used a magic or trap card with Pawn in it, I can copy that effect and use it for myself! I copy Vanessa's trap card, Pawn Reinforce!" Suddenly three white Pawn Tokens appeared on Lisa's field, "Then I play this Field Card, Duel Chessboard!" Suddenly the entire Field changed into one giant Chessboard in all its glory.

The audience gasped at this amazing sight.

Kurai was also surprised, "What the hell?"

Izumi gaped, "What Field Card is this?"

Lisa smirked, "Our trump card…" She then chuckled which slowly grew into an arrogant snobbish laughter.

Kurai narrowed his eyes and Izumi's eyes wavered as both of them couldn't help but ponder what this Field card does.

**TBC**

**

* * *

Rad:** WOAH! A GIANT CHESSBOARD! THAT LOOKED SO COOL!

**Shizuka:** Do you even know how to play Chess?

**Rad:** Um…well, not really…..but it shouldn't matter! I mean this is Duel Monsters!

**Shizuka:** Well…::she took out a manuscript of the next episode:: I just found out that this new Field card will change the Duel Monsters Rules.

**Rad:** Meaning?

**Shizuka:** Meaning…..this card game became Chess.

**Rad:** Really? Isn't that kind of cheating?

**Shizuka:** Not really. I mean there is that tennis card that changed the winning conditions. So you would be fine if you know how to play Chess.

**Rad:** But what if they don't know how to play chess?

**Shizuka sweat-drop:**….oh dear….they're in trouble.

**Rad laughed:** But Chess in Duel Monsters sound so fun! They're so lucky!

**Next Episode Preview: Episode 17 - Tag Duel! Izumi's Second Chance!**

**Shizuka sighed:** I wish I could be positive as you, Rad-san.

**

* * *

Strongest Card of the Day – White Chess Pawn #1 and Black Chess Pawn #4**

**Alexander: **Quite an interesting cards they are. They have effects but they can't use it unless the Pawn of opposite color attacked before it. You'll have to determine the attack orders to get the results you desire.

**Tsubaki**: Chess? Jeeze, who likes that nerdy game?

**Alexander chuckled: **Only a hot-head and simple-minded person like you would say that.

**Tsubaki: **What's that supposed to mean?

**Alexander: **Don't you know that chess is a game of wits and intelligence? You have to come up with clever strategy to outwit your opponent?

**Tsubaki: **It still sounds boring to me.

**Alexander smiled: **Then…what if I tell you that if you learn how to be a good chess player, you would be beat Yuki in a duel?

**Tsubaki: **…I don't believe that….I'm not Izumi.

**Alexander smiled: **Why wouldn't you believe it? People who are excellent in chess are well versed in wars and grant them countless victories.

**Tsubaki:**…I….I…**::he suddenly ran off:: **I gotta go to the library!

**Alexander smiled: **I doubt he'll even go beyond the first page of the Chess rulebook.

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****White Chess Pawn #1: Light/Rock/1/500/600**: Effect: This card can attack your opponent directly. If a monster with [Black Chess Pawn] goes through battle before this card, increase this card's ATK by 700.

**M2 - ****E-Merc Wood Elf Archer: Wind/Warrior/4/1400/1200**

**M3 - ****Black Chess Pawn #4: Dark/Rock/4/2400/0**: Effect: This card must be in Defense mode. If a monster with [White Chess Pawn] goes through battle before this card, this card can attack.

**M4 - ****Magical Girl - Oni Slayer Reiya: Dark/Warrior/4/1900/1700**: Effect: You can Normal Summon this card. In that case, treat this monster as Maiden. If this card is successfully Special Summon with [Magical Costume - Oni Slaying Robe], this card gained the following effect. Negate and destroy the effects of Trap and Magic cards that target this monster.

**M5 - ****E-Merc Tempest Lady: Wind/Warrior/3/1000/1000**

**M6 - ****Magical Girl – Spirit Castor Lilac: Light/Spellcaster/4/1300/1600**: Effect: You can Normal Summon this card. In that case, treat this monster as Normal Monster. If this card is successfully Special Summon with [Magical Costume], search your deck for [Book of Magical Spirits] and activate it. Shuffle your deck afterwards.

**M7 - ****White Chess Pawn #7: Light/Rock/3/1300/800**: Effect: When this card attacks, increase this card's ATK by 500. If a monster with [Black Chess Pawn] goes through battle before this card, when this card attacks, decrease the target monster's ATK by 500.

**T1 - ****Benevolent Pawn – Continuous Trap**: When a monster with [Chess] is being targeted of an attack, switch any monster with [Pawn] into attack mode and make that monster the target of the attack.

**T2 - ****Pawn Reinforce – Trap**: Add the number of Pawn Tokens (Rock/1/0/0) equal to another player's number of monster with [Pawn] in it. Treat the Tokens as Pawns.

**T3 - ****Pawn Copycat Strategy – Trap**: When a magic or trap card with [Pawn] in its name was used, immediately copy that effect of that card.


	31. 17A: Tag Duel! Izumi's Second Chance!

**Author's note: **What was I thinking? Had I went over my head? I'm never creating a card that could change the rules tremendously. It is seriously too much hassle especially when I don't know how to play chess expertly! I know the rules but this is insane! It's pure insanity! I had a mental overload when I wrote this chapter! I hope you enjoy this chapter a lot. My mind has suffered greatly. Oh also, I do not add an excerpt from Yugioh GX episode because we're still at the same day from the previous chapter. So it would be weird to include an event from the next GX episode set in a different day.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh!

**

* * *

Episode 17: Tag Duel! Izumi's Second Chance! Part A**

"Then I play this Field Card, Duel Chessboard (**S1)**!"

The entire duel Field had change into an amazing sight that capture everyone's breathe away. The Field was replaced by a chessboard with the squares made out of polished marbles of two different colors. Suddenly a statue erupted from the Chessboard and stood between Lisa and Vanessa. Another statue came afterward and stood between Kurai and Izumi.

Tsubaki stared with wide eyes as he put his hands on Rad's head and Ethan's head for supports as he towered over the bottom row, getting a closer look at the Chessboard, "Woah! What is this Field?"

Ethan smacked Tsubaki's hand rudely from his blonde head and answered coldly, "It's a chessboard…surely a moron like you should recognize it."

Tsubaki frowned as he went back to his seat and glared at Ethan, "I know that!" He shouted, "And I'm not a moron!" He crossed his arms out of frustration, "I'm just wondering what this Field Card's effect is."

Rad pointed out the obvious, "Well it had to be related to chess."

Ethan closed his eyes, "Well duh."

Shizuka's eyes were filled with worries, "But I never seen this type of card before."

Alexander, being the sadistic freak, smiled as usual with his closed eyes, "But the unknown is what make things so exciting."

* * *

Rebecca, who was watching from the teacher's special room atop of the stadium, smacked the glass window, "What card is this?"

Tyrell had his hand over his eyes as he took a closer look at the Field card, "Maybe it's some kinda new card. Either way, it looked kinda cool!"

Gabriel commented, "A simple-minded man complimented a game of intelligence." He smirked slightly, "Something is wrong with this picture."

Tyrell frowned slightly at Gabriel, "Hey, did you just insulted me? I was just admiring the new card!"

Rebecca looked back at Tyrell with a slight anger in her face, "Even if it is a new card, I never see this card in the card database! I don't think that card is official yet!"

Morgan stood up from her seat, "If what Instructor Rebecca said is true, then we must stop this duel immediately." Even though she loved to see the troublesome brats lose, she won't tolerate a broken rule.

The Fisherman just calmly sipped his Hawaiian drink, "Relax, Carol, we don't really need to stop such an exciting duel for this sort of um…misdemeanor."

Morgan couldn't believe her ears and she yelled, "Principal! If this is an unofficial card, then it is an illegal card! It should not be allowed to play!"

Zenobia chuckled evilly, "Don't be such an uptight fool, Morgan. You don't want to add wrinkles to your pretty face." She smirked as she stared at her female co-worker, "Beside what would the others say if you interrupt the public punishment duel."

Kamil laughed softly, "She does have a point."

Morgan gaped, "But…"

Schmitt continued watching the duel, "I want to see the children's potentials and a duel is the best way to bring out these potentials."

Anya, who was also watching with her closed eyes, "Not only students wished to see the duel, the restless spirits also wished to see it. …It would be unfortunate if the spirits can not move on and disturb the peace of this island."

"Eh?" Tyrell groaned as he hugged his arms and shuddered, "Carol, do you hear that? Stop this duel and ghosts won't move on! We can't have that!"

Morgan gritted her teeth and sat back in her seat, knowing that was she outnumbered, "Fine, you win."

Rebecca frowned at this overwhelming decision and she went back to watching the duel, "You guys better win."

* * *

Kurai was surprised at these sudden changes of the Duel Field, "What the f…"

Izumi was also surprised and she quickly pointed to the Chessboard, "What is this?" And then she pointed to the black statue that resembled the Emperor of Japan, respecting the player's nationality, "What is that?" Then both Osiris Red players noticed their monsters were standing on the squares of the first row on their side and the Obelisk Blue players' monsters nearly filled up the second row of the Chessboard on their side. The statue that stood on the opposite side resembled a European King with its regal stone cloak and staff.

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" Lisa laughed snobbishly and she smirked with victory embedded in her eyes, "Isn't it obvious, low-life city girl? This is the Chessboard and the rules have changed."

Izumi asked, "The rules have changed?"

Lisa chuckled to herself, "Vanessa, why don't you explain?"

Vanessa nodded and explained the new set of rules, "This is no longer the simple card game of Duel Monsters. This is Duel Chess!"

Izumi suddenly shrank as she gaped in her deformed form, "Duel Chess?" The giant kanji of Chess appeared on the background behind her.

Vanessa continued, "Hence the title, the rules of Chess applied to this board with new rules of course."

"You mean we actually have to play Chess?" Izumi was stunned.

Kurai just stood there in silence.

"Correct," Vanessa answered, "Unlike regular chess, we do not have pieces, thus we must summon pieces."

"So the monsters are our chess pieces." Izumi glanced to Kurai's and her monsters.

Vanessa nodded, "Lv. 1 to 3 are pawns, Lv. 4 are knights, Lv. 5 to 6 are considered rooks or bishops. Lv. 7 or higher is the Queen. But if there's monster with Chess pieces name like ours, they are considered as the pieces that their name provided. As you can see, our King pieces are already provided." She pointed to the King pieces.

"So we just need to defeat your King!" Izumi shouted, "Piece of cake!"

Lisa laughed again and annoyed Izumi a great deal, "Do you really think this is simple?" She pointed to the Osiris Red's King Token, "Under this Field card, if we defeat your King, we'll win. Get the drift?"

Both Osiris Red players were shocked. Izumi's jawbone dropped and she yelled, "WHAT? If you defeat our King, you guys win?" She stomped her foot and pointed to her opponents' king, "Then if we defeat your king, we win!"

Lisa pretended to be innocent, "Not really."

Izumi narrowed her eyes, "Why not?"

Vanessa replied, "If you defeat our King, you only destroyed our Field card."

"What the?" Izumi clenched her fist and held it threateningly, "That's not fair! How can you guys get only the Field Card destroyed when we win Chess?"

Vanessa ignored her screams, "However, we only draw one card as usual but our opponents get to draw two cards per draw phase."

Lisa looked at Izumi with malice behind her eyes, "Do you still think it's not fair?"

Izumi gritted her teeth, "Yes, it is! But Yuki and I can do this! Right, Yuki?"

Kurai responded coldly, "You don't need to tell me that." But his thoughts were the opposite, _'I have no clue at all how to play this STUPID GAME!'_

"It's still my turn," Lisa ordered her monster, "White Chess Pawn #1, Attack that poor girl directly!" The white archer grabbed a white stone arrow and then aimed it at her opponent. The arrow glowed black and was released. The arrow struck through Izumi's heart and she screamed.

Izumi stood her ground and she panted, _'Nani? Why is the attack stronger than before?' _

**Kurai and Izumi: 6100 – 1200 = 4900. Lisa and Vanessa: 8000.  
**  
Izumi finally noticed that Lisa's monster's ATK had increased from 700 to 1200, "When did that happened?"

Lisa waved her finger as she was disappointed in Izumi, "Tch. Tch. I thought you already learned the power of the Chess monsters from Vanessa."

Izumi realized, "You mean..?"

Lisa crossed her arms proudly, "That's right. When a Black Chess Pawn made an attack before this card," Vanessa's monster was all gray like stones, "this card gained 500 ATK point till the end of the turn. I now moved my White Chess Pawn #7 two spaces forward!" Her white swordsman moved forward from its starting position.

"Draw!" Kurai drew two cards from his Duel Disk, _'Even if I don't know how to play the game…..I have ways of attacking!'_ He quickly activates his set card, "I activate a trap card, "Sentinels of the Forest!" [**T1**] Kurai's trap card showed various wood golems splitting themselves from the trees of the forest, "When I have E-Merc Wood Elf Archer on the Field, I can special summon Forest Golem tokens equal to the number of monsters you have and I count five!" Five trees grew from the second row of the chessboard; about to become pawns but Kurai doesn't really understand the rules. He had his own style of offense. The trees split apart, revealing large golems made out of barks, woods, branches, and leaves. Kurai played another card, "Then I play a magic card, Heartseeker!" [**S2**] The magic card had a picture of a bow made out of fine brown oak wood with a black wooden arrow with the sharp metal end dipped in blood, "I equip this card to my Wood Elf Archer, allowing his ATK to increase by 300!" The elf's bow was replaced by the brown bow. [**E-Merc Wood Elf Archer: 1400 + 500 = 1900**]

Kurai ordered his monster, "Then I'll activate the effect of the Heartseeker! By sacrificing a monster on the Field, I can deal 600 damages to your Life Points!" The archer summoned a black arrow and aimed it at Lisa.

Lisa gasped, "Lord Yuki, you wouldn't!"

Kurai declared his move, "I sacrifice all five Forest Golem tokens!" All five golems dissolved into red energy that gathered at the arrow's sharp end, "Fire!" The archer let go of the arrow that jetted forward in insanely fast speed. The black arrow split into five and all of them struck Lisa at the same time. Lisa screamed as she withstood the pain of five arrows.

**Kurai and Izumi: 4900. Lisa and Vanessa: 8000 – 3000 = 5000. **

"Miss Lisa!" Vanessa glared at Kurai for hurting her partner, "Draw!" She drew her card and summoned a monster, "Go, Black Chess Knight #1!" [**M1 (4/1600/1900)**] A black knight appeared on a stone black horse with a circular stone shield and a black rock sword. The black knight immediately held his shield up as he was set into defense in his position of the first row. Vanessa quickly played another card, "Then I play a magic card, Sacrificial Pawn!" [**S3**] The card revealed a black pawn being destroyed by a white bishop while a black knight was preparing a surprise attack, "With this card, I sacrifice my Pawn Token to destroy your E-Merc Wood Elf Archer!" The black statue levitated above ground and then charged toward the archer. When the statue came in contact with the mercenary, they both exploded from the Field, "Then I move Black Chess Pawn #4 forward two spaces!" The bulky pawn moved forward two squares.

"My turn!" Izumi drew two cards due to the Field card's effect, "Alright, finally!" She took one of the cards she drew, "I play….." She blinked, "Huh? Where's my Magical Girl Card Castor Lilac?" She noticed only her Oni Slayer Reiya occupied the Knight square while Kurai's elf used to occupy the other Knight square.

"Oh I forgot to explain," Lisa forgot it on purpose, "Lv. 4 monsters are Knights and thus can only start in the starting squares of the Knight pieces when a Lv. 4 monster is summoned. HOWEVER, if both spaces are already occupied, then the other Lv. 4 monsters will cease to exist."

Izumi understood, "So that's why….but what happened if the Knight piece is some other space?"

Lisa explained more, "Then the starting space is free, allowing you to summon more Lv. 4 monsters. Try to remember it, you poor city girl."

Izumi looked at the other Knight piece starting space, _'There's one left….but that's okay, I don't really need it.'_ She immediately played the card she chose, "I play a magic card, Magical Costume – Traditional Chihaya!" [**S4**] Her new spell card revealed a scarlet red hakama and a white kimono shirt with swinging sleeves. At the bottom are Japanese sandals and red ornament, "Oni Slayer Reiya's effect made her count as a Maiden monster on the Field, thus I can tribute her with this spell card!" Reiya suddenly jumped high as she glowed brightly. Her clothes dissolved and she spun in complete circle like any other magical girls. She landed on the Field gracefully in her Shrine maiden clothes with long dark blue hair tied in a ponytail. She held a wooden stick with many small bells attached, "Magical Girl – Shrine Miko Yuzu!" [**M2 (4/1600/1600)**] Izumi had slammed the card down from her unlucky hand, "I move my Knight forward!" But she couldn't move her new Knight piece, "What? How come she won't move?"

Vanessa countered, "That is because you just summon it! Summoned pieces cannot move on the turn they are summoned."

Izumi twitched, "Oh now you tell me! I end my turn!" Then they heard bells jingling and saw that the Shrine Miko was shaking her bells in a pattern.

Lisa narrowed her eyes, "What is that monster doing?"

Izumi smirked, "At the end of the turn when I have no other monsters on the Field, I can use my Magical Girl's effect to remove one monster! Magical Girl – Shrine Miko Yuzu, Soul Banishment!" The shrine priestess shook her bells as she chanted, "I want to remove White Chess Pawn #1!" She shook her bells and sent a beam of holy light that struck Lisa's monster, causing it to glow and then vanished from the Field.

Lisa's eye twitched, making her face scary especially with the extra makeup making her angered face scarier. She roared, "How dare you!" She drew one card, "I summon White Chess Bishop #1!" [**M3 (4/1500/1700)**] White floating rocks materialized and gathered around, forming a humanoid with a large stone staff and a rocky cape. It took upon the shape of a wizard and stood in the bishop starting position, "I played a magic card, Chess Promotion!" [**S5**] The spell card showed a white pawn with a transparent queen piece over it. "This card allows me to sacrifice one Chess monster card to a stronger Chess monster! I sacrifice Pawn Token!" One of Lisa's Pawn Tokens vanished in sparkling cyclone, "To summon White Chess Queen from my Hand!" [**M4 (7/2500/2600)**] A white statue erupted next to the King Token. The statue glowed as rocks fell apart revealing a sculptured woman with a smooth curved white European dress and armor over her chest. She wielded a white crown similar to the King token and held a snow white staff that stood taller than the Queen itself with a tiny black crown on the top of it, "Then I move my Pawn Token two spaces forward too!" The token moved roughly as it was dragging itself across the Chessboard.

Kurai just drew two cards and summoned one card, "E-Merc Flame Berserker!" [**M5 (3/1200/900)**] The orange-skinned warrior with a large board sword appeared on the Pawn starting space, "Then I set two cards face down." Two cards were summoned.

Izumi finally snapped, "Do you even know what you're doing?"

Kurai snarled, "Shut up! Don't tell me what to do. I can do this by myself!"

Izumi countered, "That's the point! This is supposed to be teamwork! Plus I bet you don't know how to play chess!" She pointed to Kurai dramatically with her index finger.

Kurai had a tiny sweat droplet and he just retorted softly, "Whatever…"

Izumi gaped with her jawbone dropped and she smacked her cheeks with her hands, "Seriously? No wonder you suck!"

Kurai narrowed his eyes and raised his fist, "Shut up! I never have time to learn how to play chess!"

Vanessa interrupted their arguments, "Excuse me, but we are in the middle of the duel and it's my turn."

Lisa waved her hand at Vanessa, signaling her to be quiet. She chuckled dreamy with her sparkly eyes, "Please don't mind my aide's rude behavior. You can talk as much as you want."

Kurai's left eye twitched out of disgust.

Izumi sighed but she looked at Kurai with seriousness in her eyes, "Please Yuki, I need you to cooperate with me. I know you have your stupid pride but look at the situation!"

Kurai was silent. He then looked away from Izumi to the Chessboard. He knew they were outnumbered by their opponent's monsters.

Izumi had her hand over her chest, pointing to herself, "I need you to trust me. Unlike you, I know how to play chess."

Kurai didn't answer. He knew she was right and if she does know how to play chess, it was clear that she would know how to beat this foolish game. Kurai just grumbled.

Izumi smiled, "Thanks, Yuki."

Vanessa drew her card and used a card, "I play Tribute of Doomed!" The spell card showed a brown mummy wrapping bandages around a second mummy, "I discard one card to destroy one monster card! I discard Black Chess Bishop #2 [**M6 (4/1700/1500)**] to destroy your Magical Girl!"

Izumi gasped as torn bandages shot from Vanessa's magic card and wrapped around her poor Shrine Miko, causing her monster to explode.

Vanessa slammed another card on her Duel Disk, "Appear, Black Chess Rook #1!" [**M7 (4/1800/1300)**] Black floating rocks appeared and formed a shape of a strong warrior adorned in thick armor, holding a large black jousting spear, "Then I moved Black Chess Pawn #4 again!" The pawn with ax moved forward one space.

"Draw!" Izumi drew her two cards,_ 'Yuki believes in me now…I better not disappoint him!'_ She chose one from her Hand, "I summon Maiden of Fleeting Happiness! [**M8 (2/400/300)**] A small girl with dirty orange hair arrived with a sad look on her face and wore a torn blue dress, "I then play a magic card, Relentless Cursed Slippers!" [**S6**] Her new card revealed a picture of a beaten up black slippers with soles made with thorns and laces decorated with spikes, "I equip this card to Maiden of Fleeting Happiness!" The dark slippers quickly attached to the unhappy maiden, bringing her pain as thorns stabbed her feet, "Then I use Martyr's Magic Will!" [**S7**] Her new card had a picture of a grown-up magical girl protecting a teenage girl, who's fated to become the new magical girl.

"I discard a Lv. 7 Magical Girl from my Hand to special summon Love Maiden!" [**M9 (2/400/400)**] Yellow hearts filled up the Pawn Starting position as a tiny girl dressed in her rich elegant yellow dress was summoned, "Then I moved my Maiden of Fleeting Happiness two spaces forward!"

Lisa countered, "You can't do that! Monsters that are summoned cannot move until the next turn!"

"Not unless I use the Relentless Slippers!" Izumi exclaimed, "By sacrificing a monster that is equal or higher level than the equipped monster, I can move twice! I sacrifice Love Maiden!" Izumi apologized to her Love Maiden, _'Gomen.'_ Black vines with thorns erupted from the Field and mercilessly wrapped around the poor Love Maiden tightly. The vines slowly dragged her down until she disappeared from the Field. The unhappy maiden's slippers glowed wickedly blood red as it was possessed by a demon, "I'll move my Maiden two spaces forward!" The maiden walked forward with a pained expression as she endured the pain set upon herself, "I move her one more space!" The maiden continued walking on with her pain and her lives of friends, "I end my turn."

Tsubaki clenched the chair in front of him, ignoring the annoyed person in front of him, "Come on, Izumi! Yuki! You better win!" He looked at Ethan with pleading eyes, "They will win, right?"

Ethan had tiny sweat droplet as he glanced at another direction, trying his best to avert his sight from the dreadful teary eyes. He answered, "From my observations, it seemed our Gemini Stars tag duelists had a fair knowledge of playing chess and Yuki Kurai had practically no idea how to play chess at all. So the odds are in the Obelisk Blue's favor."

Tsubaki yelled with concern, "Ehhhh? Does that means they have no chances of winning?"

Alexander smiled, "Well that's not really true."

Tsubaki turned his eyes to Alexander, "It's not?"

Alexander smirked as he crossed his arms, "Yuki may be an excellent duelist but terrible player at chess. So it is obvious that he is at great disadvantage but there is something that would change the tide."

"Something?" Tsubaki asked.

Alexander smiled with closed eyes, "Something or more specifically, someone."

"Someone?" Tsubaki thought hard until he realized it, "You mean Izumi?"

Ethan pointed out, "Look how Izumi remained calm in this part of the duel. She's not afraid of this new card and there's the fact that she is the younger sister of Kitamori Reiko, one of the top Pro League duelists that used Chess monsters."

Shizuka looked down at Izumi with great hopes, _'So it's all up to Izumi to decide the victors of the duel. I know you can do it, Izumi!'_

"Draw!" Lisa drew her card and then she slammed it down on the M/T slot of her Duel Disk, "I play a magic card, Chess Pieces Assemble!" [**S8**] "I destroy all face-up Pawns on my Field!" Her three Pawn tokens and one Pawn monster were destroyed right away, "Then I can summon Chess monsters equal to the number of Pawns that are destroyed. I only had two cards left, so I summon both of them! White Chess Knight #2!" [**M10 (5/2100/1700)**] Rocks gathered around and slowly attached together by an invisible lines. Eventually the rocks formed a knight riding on a horse, carrying a round carved shield and a sharp jousting lance, "White Chess Rook #2!" [**M11 (6/2500/1900)**] White rocks formed again and created a thick armored warrior wielding a white ax with chains attached to its armor, so it won't lose its weapon when it throw the ax at the enemy. Both monsters were set in defense at their starting positions.

Lisa declared her move, "Then I order White Chess Bishop #1 to move diagonally," She looked at Yuki with apologetic eyes, "Sorry, Lord Yuki. I order White Chess Bishop #1 to attack the E-Merc Flame Berserker!" The white wizard moved forward in a diagonal line until it skidded in front of Kurai's fire monster. It held its staff high as it was about to struck him down until…

"Activate Trap card! Reflecting Shield!" [**T2**] Kurai yelled as one of his set cards flipped up, revealing General Freed with a bright shield that pushed away a reptilian warrior, "This trap card negated your Bishop's attack and dealt damage equal to half of the monster's ATK to your Life Points!" The Flame Beserker held a glowing shield that pushed back the Bishop's staff back.

**Kurai and Izumi: 4900. Lisa and Vanessa: 5000 – 750 = 4250.**

Lisa gasped as she quivered, "Lord Yuki…you're so cruel."

Izumi looked back at the screen with disbelief look and she pointed her thumb at Lisa behind her, "This coming from the girl who tried to attack Yuki."

Kurai quickly drew two cards and then analyzed what his opponents just did. By observing his opponents' movement, he was slightly able to comprehend how the pieces moved. Also, he couldn't help but remember what a Pawn can do, "I set two cards down." Two more M/T cards arrived on Kurai's side, "I summon E-Merc Aquatic Priestess!" [**M12 (3/800/1200)**] A blue-skinned female mercenary arrived in flashy entrance, "I activate her effect! When this monster is summoned successfully, I can make my opponent discard two cards randomly!" He pointed to Vanessa's lone card in her Hand, "I choose you!"

Vanessa scowled slightly as she discarded her only card since Lisa only had zero cards already.

Kurai explained more, "Also if the card you discarded is a monster card, I can bring back a monster of the same level or lower from my Graveyard into my Hand!"

Vanessa frowned as she had discarded Level 6 monster card.

Kurai smirked evilly, "I choose E-Merc Tempest Lady!" He took out his female mercenary of the wind from his Graveyard, "E-Merc Flame Berserker, attack the White Chess Bishop #1!" He had to risk his Life Points and moved the Chess pieces forward, he thought. The flame mercenary rushed and swung his sword vertically downward, splitting the Bishop in half. The pieces burst into flame and melted.

**Kurai and Izumi: 4900. Lisa and Vanessa: 4250. **

Kurai and Izumi's eyes widened as their Life Points didn't decreased. Izumi broke the silence, "What? How come we don't lose any Life Points?"

Lisa gritted her teeth and explained, "When a piece with lower ATK destroyed a piece with a higher ATK, you would not lose any Life Points."

Izumi smacked her fist, "Oh that's a nice rule."

Lisa snarled, "It doesn't matter! Even if you destroy the Bishop, I will attack your macho monster with my Queen!"

"That's what you think." Kurai quickly played another card from his hand, "I play Polymerization and I fuse E-Merc Flame Berserker and E-Merc Tempest Lady!" The swirling circle swallowed two warriors, summoning wind and fire. The wind and fire merged together and created a new winged warrior, "To Fusion Summon E-Merc Blazing Windman!" [**M13 (6/2100/1200)**] The winged warrior still floated above the Chessboard, not even landing in its starting position. Kurai raised his eyes in suspicion, "What's going on?"

Vanessa explained, "Lv. 5 to 6 get to become a Rook or Bishop, remember? You must decide the piece first."

"…I guess I picked Rook then." Kurai answered it without thinking.

Izumi fell down anime style and then she quickly stood up, "How can you pick that so quickly? Do you actually think at all?"

Kurai said it in a bored tone, "I just pick the first thing that the girl said."

Izumi blinked in shock and then screamed, "Arghhhhh, Yuki, you idiot!"

The orange-skinned winged warrior landed on the Rook's starting position.

* * *

Rebecca nearly collapsed as she witnessed a beginner's foolish mistake and she thought to herself, _'Please don't tell me that idiot doesn't know how to play chess!'_

Kamil just laughed as he enjoyed the show.

* * *

Vanessa drew her card as she silently cursed to herself that her hand was empty and now she had to rely on pure luck. She yelled, "Black Chess Pawn #4, attack the Maiden of Fleeting Happiness!" The pawn lifted its giant stone ax and brought it downward, slashing the poor Maiden, creating an explosion of smoke.

**Kurai and Izumi: 4900 – 2000 = 2900. Lisa and Vanessa: 4250.**

Izumi blinked in surprise, "Hey, wait a minute, how come we lost life points?"

Vanessa replied, "When a piece with higher ATK attacks a monster with a lower ATK, you lose Life Points."

"What? Now you tell us!" Izumi cried.

Kurai cursed silently, "Damnit."

Izumi frowned but her upside down smile flipped up, "Well, I kinda knew you're going to attack it. That is why I chose that monster!" The smoke cleared and the Maiden of Fleeting Happiness remained standing, "Maiden of Fleeting Happiness cannot be destroyed as the result of battle!" She drew her two cards, "I summon Maiden of the Moonlight!" [**M14 (4/1500/1300)**] An angel soared to the battlefield with her pure white feathered wings. She had long silky brown hair and dressed in snow white robes, "I then sacrifice her to the Relentless Shoes!" Black thorns grew from the ground and wrapped around the poor angel, dragging her down as she was being forced. The Maiden's black shoes once again glow bright red as blood.

"Gomen, Maiden," Izumi offered a quick apology, "Then Maiden of Fleeting Happiness, attack Black Chess Pawn #4!" The maiden actually ran forward and slapped the bulky monster that shattered into million of pieces. The audience just gaped as they would never see one of the weakest monsters would actually attack nor destroy the stronger monster, "Then I move her forward another space!" The maiden continued to walk forward.

"Just what are you trying to do, you poor city girl!" Lisa scowled with her make up squeezed tightly out of anger, making her look more dreadful than before, "What can you do with a single Pawn? I should destroy you right now and then!" She drew her card, "Lord Yuki, because you're decided that your E-Merc Blazing Windman should be a rook. It's in the pathway of my White Chess Rook #2! I'll move my White Chess Rook #2 forward to destroy your E-Merc!" The thick armored chess piece moved forward in a complete straight line toward the E-Merc Blazing Windman.

Izumi screamed out of frustration, "I tried to warn him!"

"That was a waste of valuable piece." Tsubaki commented.

Alexander just chuckled, "Really? You're clearly underestimating our friend here."

"Huh?" Tsubaki blinked in confusion.

Kurai's serious expression grew into a tiny smirk, "I play this trap card, Mercenary's Best Friend!" [**T3**] His set card flipped up, "This trap card allows me to special summon Fiend Husky [**M15 (3/800/1200)**] from my deck when my E-Merc is under attack!" The chrome-plated dog howled as it made its appearance, "That's not all! It also becomes the target of the attack too!" The armored rook raised its white axe against the Blazing Windman until the dog suddenly appeared and took the beatings.

Kurai and Izumi: 2300 – 1600 = 700. Lisa and Vanessa: 4250.

Kurai quickly grabbed two cards from the Graveyard, "When Fiend Husky is destroyed, I get to pick Polymerization and one E-Merc monster from the Graveyard!" He showed Polymerization and E-Merc Wood Elf Archer and he played another set card, "And I also activate Hired Mercenary!" [**T4**] His second set card was activated, "When a monster was destroyed as the result of battle, I can special summon one Lv. 4 or less E-Merc monster. You destroyed my Fiend Husky, thus I will special summon E-Merc Steel Cutter!" [**M16 (4/1900/1100)**] A large muscular humanoid warrior dressed in metallic black armor with horned helmet appeared on the Knight's Starting space. He wielded a large black axe with glowing white blade.

Tsubaki stared in amazement, "Woah! Yuki is summoning more pieces."

"I believe he understood chess a little now." Alexander smiled.

"But they're way behind in Life Points." Rad frowned, "If they don't be careful, they're going to be in deep trouble."

Lisa gritted her teeth, forgetting her small crush on Kurai, and slammed her card down, "I place one card set down!"

Kurai drew his two cards, thinning his deck which was much shorter than both of his opponents, "I place two cards face-down!" Two more cards appeared next to his third set card that was not used, "Then I summon E-Merc Wood Elf Archer!" The elven archer was summoned in the second Knight starting position. He smirked, "E-Merc Blazing Windman, destroy White Chess Rook #2 with Blazing Hawk!" The winged warrior soared high and took flight. The beak of his cannon snapped open, revealing a sphere of pure purple fire. The sphere was launched and grew into a shape of hawk that burned Lisa's monster into ashes, "Although I destroyed a monster with a higher ATK, there's no battle damage but my E-Merc Blazing Windman's effect activates!"

"I knew that would happen, thus I activate my trap card!" Lisa played the card she just set down, "Option Hunter!" [**T5**] The trap showed a crustacean creature with purple shells and sharp pincers floating in the background of fire, "You dealt 1900 damage but I take these Life Points back!"

**Kurai and Izumi: 700. Lisa and Vanessa: 4250 – 1900 + 2500 = 4850.**

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "Hmph, I play Mirage of Nightmares [**S9**] and then I end my turn." His magic card had picture of a man dressed in Egyptian clothes with pale rotten skin, screaming for his little life.

Vanessa drew and she smiled slightly as luck had come for her. She was about to activate until Kurai interrupted her, "Mirage of Nightmares is activated! During my opponent's standby phase, I draw cards until I have four!" He drew three cards, "However during my standby phase, I had to discard the number of cards I drew."

Vanessa just quickly activated the last card she drew, "I play a card, Desperate Move!" [**S10**] Her card revealed a hand moving chess pieces with a desperate strategy, "With this card, I can special summon any Chess monster if it's the only card in my hand! And the card I special summon is Black Chess Queen!" [**M17 (7/2600/2500)**] A black statue erupted from the Chessboard and then exploded into a beautiful sculpture of a queen in an elegant skimpy dress unlike the white queen. Instead of graceful armor on her chest, it was armor adorned with spikes, making the black queen fearsome. She wielded a long black rod with a small white crown on top of it. Vanessa carefully chose the spot where the Queen will stand.

"Wait a minute," Izumi questioned, "How come your Queen gets to be summoned while Lisa's Queen is still taking over that space for the Queen?"

Vanessa answered, "Desperate Move allowed me to pick any starting position for any Chess piece in my hand." Vanessa closed her eyes as she knew what would happen next, "I end my turn."

Tsubaki asked, "Vanessa is not going to move any pieces?"

Ethan explained, "She's not going to waste her monster because she knew the outcome."

Tsubaki blinked, "Huh?"

Ethan twitched, "Never mind, fool. Just watch."

Alexander smiled as he knew what would happen next.

"Fine! My move!" Izumi drew her two cards, "I summon Nature Maiden!" [**M18 (3/700/1300)**] A girl with a purple hair tied in a neat bun appeared on the Chessboard dressed in elegant Victorian clothes. Instead of a thick dress, she wore a thick skirt, revealing her slender knees in well-made white slippers, "Then I tribute her to the Relentless Slippers! Gomen." She looked at her maiden with apologetic look before she was ruthlessly taken away by the black thorns. Her lone maiden's black slippers once again glow blood red. Izumi pushed away her sorrow and pointed to her Maiden, "I moved my Maiden of Fleeting Happiness two spaces forward with her Relentless Slippers!"

The maiden finally reached the end of the Chessboard. Lisa glanced at the Maiden with confusion, "Just what are you trying to do, low-life city girl?"

"Promotion." Vanessa answered.

"Huh?" Lisa asked her aide.

Vanessa explained, "If your pawn reached the end of the Chessboard, you can exchange any pawn for the piece you have lost but in Duel Chessboard…" She gulped, "Izumi can exchange her maiden for any monsters in her Graveyard."

Lisa just gaped with great shock.

Izumi grinned as she gave a "V," "Bingo!" She quickly chose a card from the Graveyard, "And if you remember, I discard one monster with that magic card, Martyr's Magic Will," She smirked, "That monster I discarded is Magical Girl – Holy Knightess Caecilia!" [**M19 (7/2700/1800)**] The maiden was suddenly basked in a warm light as she was rewarded for her hard work and her years of sorrow. She shone brightly until she dissolved and being replaced by a new maiden with a face of proud justice and a gentle look of a sworn protector. She had hair that shone bright orange as the sun neatly tied in a bun that grew into a long sleek ponytail. She wore a regal silver armor with a golden decorated emblem of the lion, symbolizing valor and courage, over a long red dress marked with golden stripes at the bottom, the red symbolized her passion and the golden stripes symbolized her justice. She held a thick silver shield, glazed with many colorful decorations, that was three-fourth of her size. In her other hand was a thin rapier with blade that was clear as glass and cannot be stained with the blood of vile. The majestic warrior took place where the Maiden used to stand.

Lisa was stunned but her look of surprise quickly scrunched into face of evil joy, "Even if you summon a powerful monster, you still cannot move that piece!"

"That's where you're wrong!" Izumi cried, "I forgot to mention the second effect of the Relentless Slippers!"

"A second effect?" Lisa questioned.

"When a Maiden equipped with Relentless Slippers is removed from the Field, the second monster I choose can attack again!" Izumi grinned as Caecilia suddenly gained blazing yellow angelic wings on the back of her armor, "Magical Girl – Holy Knightess Caecilia! Attack the King Token with Clean Justice!" The female knight held her blade vertically and then twisted as the thin edge faced her opponent. The blade glow clear as the white sun of the sky. Her angelic wings flapped and she suddenly soared forward, stabbed the blade right into the King Token. The wound slowly grew into cracks that spread across the rock token, causing it to shine brightly as it was a bomb. The squares of the chessboard were also glowing and then suddenly the King Tokens and the chessboard became a flash that consumed the entire arena, blinding everyone's eyes.

**TBC**

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****Black Chess Knight #1: Dark/Rock/4/1600/1900**: Effect: If a monster with [White Chess Knight] goes through battle before this card, this monster can attack twice.

**M2 - ****Magical Girl – Shrine Miko Yuzu: Light/Spellcaster/4/1600/1600**: Effect: You can Normal Summon this card. In that case, treat this monster as Maiden monster. If this card is successfully Special Summon with [Magical Costume], this card gained the following effect. At the end of your turn, when there's no monsters on your Field except this card, remove one monster from the game.

**M3 - ****White Chess Bishop #1: Light/Rock/4/1500/1700**: Effect: If a monster with [Black Chess Bishop] goes through battle before this card, you can inflict 800 damage to your opponent. If you use this effect, this card cannot attack this turn.

**M4 - ****White Chess Queen: Light/Rock/7/2500/2600: **Effect:If a monster with [Black Chess Queen] goes through battle before this card, during your Battle Phase, you can Special Summon 1 [Chess] monster from your Graveyard.

**M5 - ****E-Merc Flame Berserker: Fire/Warrior/3/1200/900**

**M6 - ****Black Chess Bishop #2: Dark/Rock/4/1700/1500:**Effect: If a monster with [White Chess Bishop] goes through battle before this card, during Battle Phase, you can discard one card to destroy one face-down card.

**M7 - ****Black Chess Rook #1: Dark/Rock/1800/1300**: Effect: If a monster with [White Chess Rook] goes through battle before this card, during battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points twice.

**M8 - ****Maiden of Fleeting Happiness: Light/Spellcaster/2/400/300**: Effect: If this card is in face-up attack mode, it can't be destroyed as a result of Battle. While this card is in face-up attack mode on the Field, Monsters that this card Battles can't change their modes while face-up and can't attack.

**M9 - ****Love Maiden: Light/Angel/2/400/400**: Effect: If this Monster is in attack mode, it cannot be destroyed as a result of Battle. When this Monster is attacked by your opponent place 1 [Maiden Counter] on the attacker.

**M10 - ****White Chess Knight #2: Light/Rock/5/2100/1700: **Effect: If a monster with [Black Chess Knight] goes through battle before this card, when this card destroys and sends a Monster to the graveyard in battle, do damage equal to the half of the ATK of the monster destroyed to your opponent.

**M11 - ****White Chess Rook #2: Light/Rock/6/2500/1900: **Effect: If a monster with [Black Chess Knight] goes through battle before this card, you gain Life Points equal to the amount of damage this card inflicts to your opponent.

**M12 - ****E-Merc Aquatic Priestess: Water/Warrior/3/800/1200**: Effect: When summoned successfully your opponent must discard 2 cards at random. If your opponent discards a monster card, you may take on monster of the same level or lower from your Graveyard and add it to your hand.

**M13 - ****E-Merc**** Blazing Windman: Wind/Warrior – Fusion/6/2100/1200: **Effect: This card can only be special summoned by fusion summon. When this card destroys and sends a Monster to the graveyard in battle, do damage equal to the defense strength of the monster destroyed to your opponent.

**M14 - ****Maiden of the Moonlight: Spellcaster/Light/4/1500/1300**

**M15 - ****Fiend Husky: Earth/Machine/3/800/1200**: Effect: If this monster is sent to the Graveyard, you can return 1 [Polymerization] and 1 monster with [E-Merc] in its name into your hand.

**M16 - ****E-Merc Steel Cutter: Earth/Warrior/4/1900/1100**: You can only activate this effect during a Battle Step of your turn. Decrease the ATK of this card by 500 points, then during battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. This effect continues until the End Phase of the turn this effect is activated.

**M17 - ****Black Chess Queen: Dark/Rock/7/2600/2500: **Effect: If a monster with [White Chess Queen] goes through battle before this card, when this card destroys a monster and send it to the Graveyard in battle, your opponent discard a number of cards equal to the destroyed monster's level divided by two from his/her hand.

**M18 - ****Nature Maiden: Earth/Spellcaster/3/700/1300**

**M19 - ****Magical Girl – Holy Knight Caecilia: Light/Warrior/7/2700/1800**: Effect: You can Normal Summon this card. In that case, treat this monster as Maiden monster. If this card is successfully Special Summon with [Magical Costume], this card gained the following effect. As long as this monster is in ATK mode, other monsters with original ATK lower than this monster's ATK cannot be selected as target of an attack. You can Tribute this card to negate the activation of a Spell Card, Trap Card, or Effect Monster's effect that destroys a card(s) on the field, and destroy that card. If you negate an effect this way, you can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard during the End Phase.

**S1 - ****Duel Chessboard - Field Spell**: Change the entire battlefield into a chessboard. The chess rules apply here. Special summon two King Tokens (8/Rock/0/0) in ATK mode on both players' field. This card cannot be destroyed by magic, trap, or effect. This card can only be destroyed when your King Token is destroyed as the result of battle by your opponet's monster. You win the game when you destroy your opponent's King Token. Your opponent now draw two cards instead of one in Draw Phase. Lv. 1-3 are treated as Pawns, Lv. 4 are treated as Knights, Lv. 5-6 are treated as Bishops or Rooks, Lv. 7 or higher are treated as Queen unless a certain monster with [Chess] in its name, then they keep their positon. You may not set a monster on the Chessboard. When you normal summon, flip summon, special summon a monster, they must be put in defense mode and in their respective positons. To move a chess piece, the monster must be in defense mode the first time and then it must be in the attack mode in all time when moved. When a monster with a Higher ATK destroy a monster with lower ATK, calculate the damage as normal. When a monster with a lower ATK destroy a monster with Higher ATK, do not calculate damage. Magic, Traps, and Effects still applied to the monsters on the Chessboard.

**S2 - ****Heartseeker – Equipment Spell**: This card can only be equipped to [E-Merc Wood Elf Archer]. Increase this monster's ATK by 500. Offer 1 monster on your side of the field as a Tribute to inflict 600 points of Direct Damage to your opponent's Life Points.

**S3 - ****Sacrificial Pawn – Normal Spell**: Tribute one monster with [Pawn] in its name and then destroy one card on the Field.

**S4 - ****Magical Costume – Traditional Chihaya – Normal Spell**: Activate this card by offering a monster with [Maiden] in its name as a tribute. Special Summon 1 Magical Girl – Shrine Miko Yuzu from your deck or Hand.

**S5 - ****Chess Promotion – Normal Spell**: Sacrifice a "Chess Pawn" to special summon "Chess Knight," "Chess Rook," "Chess Bishop," or "Chess Queen" from your Hand.

**S6 - ****Relentless Cursed Slippers – Equipment Spell**: This card can only be equipped to a monster with [Maiden] or [Magical Girl] in its name. If you sacrifice a monster that is equal or higher level than the equipped monster, the equipped monster can attack twice. When a monster equipped with this card is removed from the Field, select another monster on your Field and the selected monster can attack again.

**S7 - ****Martyr's Magic Will – Normal Spell**: Discard 1 Lv. 4 or Higher Monster with [Magical Girl] within its name from your Hand to the Graveyard. You can special summon Lv. 4 or less Monster with [Magical Girl] or [Maiden] within its name from your Hand.

**S8 - ****Chess Pieces Assemble – Normal Spell**: Destroy all face-up monsters with [Pawn] in its name on your side of the field. Then you can special summon monsters with [Chess] in its name from your hand up to the same number of monsters destroyed by this effect.

**S9 - ****Mirage of Nightmares – Continuous Spell**: During your opponent's Standby Phase, draw cards until your hand has 4 cards. During your Standby Phase, randomly discard the same number of cards you drew with this card's effect to the Graveyard.

**S10 - ****Desperate Move – Normal Spell**: Activate this card when you only had one card in your hand beside this card. You can special summon a monster with [Chess] from your Hand without any requirements. If you have [Duel Chessboard], you may summon this card in Pawn, Knight, Rook, Bishop, Queen, or King's positions.

**T1 - ****Sentinels of the Forest – Trap**: This card can only activate when there's a face-up [E-Merc Wood Elf Archer] on the Field. You can special summon [Forest Golem Token: Plant/1/100/100] equal to the number of monsters on your opponent's field.

**T2 - ****Reflecting Shield – Trap**: Negate the attack of 1 of your opponent's monsters and inflict damage equal to the half of the attacking monster's ATK to your opponent's Life Points. This battle phase ends immediately.

**T3 - ****Mercenary's Best Friend – Trap**: When a monster with [E-Merc] within its name become a target of a magic, trap, effect, or attack, you can special summon [Fiend Husky] from your Hand or deck. When [Fiend Husky] is on the Field, other monsters cannot be selected as an attack target.

**T4 - ****Hired Mercenary – Normal Trap**: This card can only be activated when one of your monster(s) on the field is destroyed as a result of battle. Special summon a monster with [E-Merc] in its name that is Level 4 or lower from your hand or deck.

**T5 - ****Option Hunter –Trap**: This card can only be activate when a monster card on your field is destroy in battle and sent to Graveyard. Increase your lifepoints equal to the original attack strength of the destroyed monster.


	32. 17B: Tag Duel! Izumi's Second Chance!

**Author's note: **That was a long chapter, another seriously long chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed because I'm seriously lacking the strength to write more here at the moment lol except to say I hope you guys love the new chapter! Please leave a review and thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh!**

**

* * *

Yugioh GX Chapter 17 Part B!**

The TV screen showed Lisa and Vanessa on the left and Kurai and Izumi on the right. Soon, the GX logo appeared on the bottom right of the screen.

The narrator stared at the screen. He looked back, "It's a lazy eye catch, huh? Well sue me! It's a long chapter! You can't expect me to put an eye catch in the middle of an exciting duel! Hey, don't ignore me! Don't even think about reading the next paragraph! …You are, aren't you? Fine, you can just leave me!" He ran off in tears.

The bright light resided and everyone retained their sights back. The field was back to normal without the chessboard but the players had kept their monsters. Lisa had two white Chess pieces on her side and Vanessa had four black Chess pieces on her. Kurai had four E-Merc monsters while Izumi had one powerful Magical Girl. The King Tokens were gone but because Izumi destroyed Obelisk Blue's King Token with a strong monster. The damage was dealt to their Life Points.

**Kurai and Izumi: 700. Lisa and Vanessa: 4850 – 2700 = 2150.**

There were cries of loud cheers and few boos. Tsubaki just jumped out of his seat and stuck his fist out, "Alright, Izumi! Yuki! You guys rock!"

Rad was cheering with Tsubaki too, "Hell yeah!"

Alexander laughed slightly, "They destroyed the Field card and also managed to lower the large differences of their Life Points. They're really amazing, alright."

Ethan sighed with slight disappointment or relief, who could tell, "Well I didn't calculate that to happen."

Shizuka smiled happily, _'Congratulations, Izumi-chan.'_

* * *

From the VIP seats, Rebecca grinned as she thought to herself, _'Heh, great work, guys.'_

"What do you know? They managed to overcome the illegal obstacle!" Kamil laughed heartily, "But…"

Zenobia smirked, "It's not over yet." Rebecca frowned at the response and narrowed her eyes at Zenobia.

Schmitt's glasses glinted as his eyes were hidden in shadows, "Zenobia is right. The duel is not yet over. Lisa and Vanessa were formidable opponents in the past without the chessboard." Gabriel nodded in agreement.

"Plus…it's not enough to satisfy the spirits of hardcore duelists until someone lose gravely," Mileah mentioned.

"Oh come on, guys! Cheer up and show some little supports for our kids!" Tyrell was also excited about the Osiris Red's triumph, "Right, Carol?" That deserved a smack from the Osiris Red Headmistress's steel clipboard.

Morgan crossed her arms, "Hmph, I never support troublemakers."

Tyrell winced as he rubbed his bruised arm, "Grouchy."

* * *

As the students continued to cheer for the new heroes of the dueling, they failed to notice a tiny puffball floating around the arena. It was the spirit of Yami Kuriboh who came to witness the duel with his master Kurai. The dark spirit flapped his tiny wings as he headed toward the Field, "Kuri! Kuri!"

Kurai's ears twitched slightly as he heard a familiar sound. He glanced toward the noise and then had a tiny sweat droplet, "Oh no."

Yami Kuriboh floated toward Kurai, "Kuri! Kuri!" He greeted his master happily.

Kurai twitched and groaned to himself, _'And I thought that thing was supposed to be a dream?'_

Yami Kuriboh looked at Kurai with confusion, "Kuri?"

Kurai scowled to himself, _'Why me? Maybe this is just another dream and I'm having a tag duel tomorrow? Or…..please don't tell me, I became a nutso like him!'_ He screamed, "ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Izumi was suddenly surprised when she heard Kurai screamed. She looked at him with a sweat droplet dripped behind her head, "….Yuki?..."

Yami Kuriboh also had sweat droplet too, "Kuri…"

Kurai composed himself and batted the poor puffball away, "Go away, you're distracting me."

Izumi who overheard it and thought that comment was toward her, "Oh how rude! I can't go away! I'm your partner!"

Kurai scowled, "I wasn't talking to you!"

Izumi blinked in confusion, "Then…..you're talking to yourself?" She said it as Kurai was being an idiot.

Kurai's forehead vein twitched and he snapped, "Have you end your turn yet, moron?"

Izumi sweat-dropped as Kurai avoided the question, "…Yuki…I think after this is over, you should go see a doctor…" She whispered, "I'm worried about your mental state."

"JUST END YOUR TURN!" Kurai roared with white angry eyes with demonic fangs inside his mouth.

Izumi backed away out of fright, "HAI! FINISHED!"

Lisa couldn't believe her eyes as the Chessboard was destroyed by the likes of commoner. Her face was hidden in shadow as she looked down with her body shaking out of anger and lost pride. She slowly turned her model's face up, revealing a new face that awfully resembled a demon. She hissed, "You will pay, you ungrateful city girl! I won't tolerate your insolence! I'll make sure that the both of you Osiris Red trashes leave this place the moment I win!" She snatched her card roughly from the duel disk and played a card, "I play A New Game!" [**S1**] Her card contained a picture of shadows of arms setting the chess pieces on a new chessboard. All the chess pieces monsters set on Lisa and Vanessa's field were immediately shattered into thousand pieces that changed into glowing dusts that gathered to the Obelisk Blue players' bodies, restoring part of their lives, "This card destroys all Chess monsters and for each monster that this card destroyed, we gain a 1000 Life Points. Six monsters are destroyed, thus we gain 6000 Life Points!"

**Kurai and Izumi: 700. Lisa and Vanessa: 2150 + 6000 = 8150.**

Izumi's jawbone suddenly dropped and she slapped her face with both of her hands together. She screamed, "WHAT?"

Tsubaki was also stunned too, "EH! Their life points are full again!"

Alexander smirked, "So another part of duel begins and Yuki and Izumi are in dilemma. How exciting."

Tsubaki immediately yelled with white demonic fangs as he pointed to Alexander dramatically, "Stop smiling like a sadistic freak!"

Alexander just smiled and slowly inched his head toward Tsubaki with the back of his face facing the computer or TV screen, "Do you really want me to stop smiling?" The way he said made him sound like as he was a calm evil deity that came from another world set forth to bring chaos among the united leaders.

Tsubaki just turned completely white as a ghost and shrunk until he was the size of the pea. He spoke meekly, "….um…no…please…"

Alexander smiled, "Good."

Tsubaki immediately hugged Rad out of fright and river of tears were pouring from his eyes, "HE'S! BEYOND EVIL!"

Rad had a giant sweat droplet, "And you called me crazy?"

Lisa continued on, explaining her new card, "A new game make a new round by sacrificing the old pieces and begin a new game with a complete set! All players get to draw cards until they reached five." She drew five cards and so did Vanessa. Kurai and Izumi only drew one since they already had four cards in their hand.

Lisa's angered face grew into an evil smirk as she enjoyed her new set of cards. She snatched one card from her Hand, "I play my trump card, Coronation of the White King!" [**S2**] Her second spell card revealed the white king token with a golden crown symbol above and a chessboard as the background.

"The White King?" Kurai and Izumi asked at the same time.

Lisa chuckled evilly, "I have to remove five monsters from the graveyard for this card to work. I remove White Pawn Chess#7!" She selected the first Pawn she saw and removed it. The spirit of the white chess swordsman appeared above Lisa, "Then White Chess Knight #2!" The white knight on a horse also appeared, "White Chess Rook #2!" The white armored general was next, "White Chess Bishop #1" The white wizard came too, "Then finally White Chess Queen!" The powerful queen once again erupted from the chessboard. She raised her rod high as the crown on the top glowed majestically. All the inferior white chess pieces broke apart back to floating rocks. The rocks surrounded the queen and then merged together to form a new powerful creature, "By removing five White Chess pieces, I can special summon the White Chess King!" [**M1 (8/3000/2700)**] She slammed the card down from her Hand and the powerful creature was revealed as the mighty king armored in white stones that shone bright as stainless metals. His helmet was shaped like a European crown made of the strongest stone. The king wore his red silk cape decorate with the symbols of all the chess pieces before him, showing his impressive attire of royalty and loyalty. The king held his long wide sword vertically as the blade stabbed the ground and he had both of his hands over the handle that resembled the chess crown.

Izumi's eyes widened in shock, _'Is this the end?'_

Kurai gritted his teeth as someone of this duel had finally summoned a monster with 3000 ATK.

"White Chess King, attack!" Lisa declared her final move.

Kurai hissed as he was about to activate his face-down cards but Lisa shocked him as she yelled more, "Off with that Magical Girl's head with White Royal Sabre!" The king glided forward with his cape flowing along with the wind.

Vanessa shouted, "Miss Lisa! NO!" But it was too late as the King immediately appeared in front of Izumi's knight. Caecilia countered by holding her regal shield up but it was useless against the mighty king. The White Chess King swung his long sword horizontally, slicing the shield and the poor girl's head off. Her dismembered body shattered into glasses.

Izumi braced the explosion and cried, "Caecilia!"

**Kurai and Izumi: 700 – 300 = 400. Lisa and Vanessa: 8150.**

Kurai gave a tiny sigh of relief, _'That was close.'_ Yami Kuriboh nodded in agreement. Kurai's forehead vein twitched and he glared at the puffball, _'I'm not talking to you nor I'm crazy!'_

"Woah, that was scary." Tsubaki commented.

"That was close." Rad replied.

"Close?" Tsubaki asked.

"Too close." Shizuka answered quietly.

"Huh?" Tsubaki was confused.

Ethan explained, "What they mean that Lisa could have won that duel."

Tsubaki gaped, "She could have?"

"But she didn't," Alexander took over, "She got emotional and that affected her judgment. If I recall, the White Chess King had an effect that allow him to pick any effect from the monsters that were removed to summon him."

Ethan finished it up, "She could have pick White Chess Pawn #1 and attack directly or White Chess Pawn #7 and gain 500 ATK boost and dealt more damage to their Life Points. She also could have attack one of Yuki's monsters to ensure victory but she didn't. She was reckless."

"Oh…" Tsubaki understood, "Man, the blonde is pissed off."

Lisa laughed snobbishly as she was proud of herself, "HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! Take that, you insolent city girl! This is what you get for messing with me!"

"MISS LISA!" Vanessa yelled ferociously at her own partner.

Lisa was stunned by her own partner's loud voice. She narrowed her eyes into a venomous glare, "How dare you use that tone against me? Do you realize who you're talking to?"

"Who I'm talking to is a fool, Lisa!" Vanessa assaulted back with a louder voice that frightened Lisa, "You could have won right there! But you let your anger cloud your judgment! Is that what an Obelisk Blue duelist should do?" She was intensely serious.

Lisa shook but gathered up a tiny bit courage to ask, "What on earth are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about!" Vanessa narrowed her piercing yellow eyes, "Lisa, the one of the top Obelisk Blue duelists, should know very well what I am talking about! Not this emotional babbling witch in front of me!"

Lisa's eyes widened as her own aide just yelled and insulted her. Her crazed eyes quivered but she calmly closed her eyes as she went to trance. She slowly processed what Vanessa just said and what she could have done during the Battle Phase. She then slowly opened her eyes and through her expensive contracts were the eyes of the duelist, "I see. I made a grave mistake. That wasn't like me." She flicked her blonde hair, "That was very foolish of me." She looked at the Osiris Red duelists, "I'm going apologize for my intolerable behavior. I had no excuses for my rage but I swear that I will fight as the Obelisk Blue duelist that I truly am!" She selected one card and placed it face-down, "I set one card face-down and I end my turn. Vanessa." She continued staring at her opponents without looking at her partner.

"Yeah?" Vanessa replied.

"Let's show them what Gemini Stars are really about." Lisa sounded determined.

Vanessa smiled slightly that wasn't shown in such a long time, "Yes!"

Kurai narrowed his eyes as he noticed the change in their opponents. He could sense that they're serious now and the duel would be harder from here out. But he knew that he shouldn't give up here. "Draw!" He drew one card now instead of two since the Chessboard was destroyed, "I activate my magic card, Emergency Provisions!" He revealed his set card that contained a picture of foods suitable for soldiers in war, "I used this card to destroy Mirage of Nightmares and at the same time, I gain 1000 Life Points!" Both spells cards shattered.

**Kurai and Izumi: 400 + 1000 = 1400. Lisa and Vanessa: 8150.**

"Because my Mirage of Nightmares was destroyed, I don't need to discard any cards. Then I activate my second face-down card, Elemental Recover!" [**T1**] His trap card revealed a picture of a dark altar found in magic temple and a white powerful thunder struck the center of the altar, signaling the blessing of the Gods, "For each E-Merc monster on my Field, I gain a 1000 Life Points. I have four, thus I gain 4000 Life Points!" His four monsters, the orange-skinned winged warrior, the steel warrior, the elf archer, and the blue-skinned priestess, glowed brightly. They suddenly transferred their glowing energy to Kurai and Izumi, recovering their Life Points.

**Kurai and Izumi: 1400 + 4000 = 5400. Lisa and Vanessa: 8150.**

Izumi was amazed by Yuki's comeback, "Yuki!"

Kurai took one card from his Hand, "I play Pot of Greed and draw two cards!" He drew two more and his eyes widened in surprise, "What the…"

"Yuki?" Izumi noticed the confusion in his face.

Kurai narrowed his cold eyes as he thought to himself, _'When did I add these two cards to my deck?'_ He was silent for few seconds and then he gave a scary glare to the floating spirit.

"Kuriiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Yami Kuriboh immediately flied backward out of fright and then hid behind Izumi.

Izumi had a giant sweat droplet, "Um….Yuki…why are you glaring at me like that?" Kurai's glare intensified, "...STOP THAT! IT'S SCARYING ME!"

Kurai cursed silently as he wondered how these cards were added to his deck. Around Kurai's neck, the necklace with the black pendent gave a faint glow for only a faint second. Inside another dimension where everything was entirely black and gave a haunting chilling aura, there stood a dark throne where a familiar shadow was sitting on. The shadow chuckled evilly as he witnessed the owner of the necklace's duel, "It would be very disappointing if my toy loses here. He's rough around the edge but it does take time for ugly stone to become a precious diamond. So be grateful, you pitiful bug. I'm giving you a gift."

Kurai's forehead vein twitched again as he complained to himself, "Somehow I had that annoying feeling again."

"Kuri. Kuri. Kuri!" Yami Kuriboh was telling him something.

"You're telling me to use these cards?" Kurai asked the puffball and then had a tiny sweat droplet, "Wait, why am I talking to you?" He sighed out of frustration, "I blame those two idiots (Izumi and Tsubaki) for making me crazy." He inserted two cards face-down, "I set two cards face-down!" Two cards materialized on the Field, "Then I order all my E-Merc monsters to attack her directly!" He pointed to Vanessa's empty side of Field and all his monsters immediately rushed forward for a blitz.

"Not so fast! I activate this card from my hand! Abandon Strategy!" [**S3**] She inserted the card into her Duel Disk, revealing a spell card that contained picture of wall of pawns setting up defense, "To activate this card, I remove my Benevolent Pawn trap card and send it to the Graveyard," Her permanent trap card shattered, "Now all battle damages are reduced to zero!" Kurai's monsters continued charging until they were reflected by transparent pawns that set up wall around Vanessa, "Also your battle phase has ended."

Kurai glared and then ended his turn.

Vanessa drew her card and then quickly played it, "I activate my trump card too! Coronation of the Black King!" [**S4**] It was the same card as Lisa's magic card except it was black instead of white, "Like Lady Lisa's card, I have to remove five black chess pieces to summon the Black Chess King!" [**M2 (8/3000/2700)**] She removed five monsters from the graveyard and the black queen once again made its appearance, surrounded by the pieces of the four other Chess monsters. The black rocks swirled around the Queen, forming the same monster as Lisa had except it was stainless black and his cape was dark blue instead of red, "I then activate the Chess Black King's effect! I can choose any effect of the monsters I removed. I chose Black Chess Knight #1's effect! Now my Chess Black King can attack twice! Attack Izumi directly with Black Tyrant Sabre!" The black king immediately glided forward with his blue cape flying in the wind. The king held his sword high as he was about to slice Izumi in half. Izumi screamed as she raised her arms high.

Kurai yelled as he activate his new set card, "I play Kuriboh Calling Trumpet!" [**S5**] The picture of his flipped card was a Kuriboh and Yami Kuriboh floating above a golden trumpet with a dark background, "This card allows me to special summon Yami Kuriboh from my deck to the Field." He grabbed one card from his deck and summoned Yami Kuriboh in defense mode. He noticed that the spirit disappeared and the card hologram just winked at him. Kurai just blinked and sighed annoyingly, _'It's official, I'm a nutso.'_

Vanessa knew what that little creature can do and thought to herself, _'His facedown card could send his creature to the Graveyard and then he can activate the effect to negate the damage. Not if I can help it!'_ She had a Trap Booster and a trap card that would negates trap cards in her Hand.

Kurai quickly activated his other set card, "Then I chained it with Condescendent Wings!" [**S6**] His flipped card revealed a tiny dark-haired boy with giant black devil wings attached to him. Above the boy with the devil's wings was the face of a fearsome demon.

Vanessa's eyes widened, _'It's not a trap card?'_

Tsubaki gaped, "Woah I never seen that card! Kind of creepy, if you ask me."

"Yami Kuriboh and the Condescendent Wings are the complete opposites of Hane Kuriboh and Transcendent Wings but their higher level had the same powerful effects." Shizuka pointed out.

Tsubaki asked, "Hane Kurbioh?"

Alexander smiled, "An angelic and cuter version of Kuriboh."

"I discard two cards from my hand and send Yami Kuriboh from the Graveyard to special summon Yami Kuriboh LV.10!" [**M3 (10/300/200)**] The impish puffball had transformed into a fearsome sight. The dark Kuriboh now wore a silver helmet that was shaped like a demon's head with two devil's horn sticking out of it. He also had two red long devil's tails. His small wings had grown into giant black demonic wings with two large white talons sticking out on the top of the wings.

Izumi gasped at the sight of a new monster, "Woah...A new monster?" She then shivered, "But it's so creepy looking…"

Lisa stepped backward at this horrible sight, "What is this? This horrible thing!"

Kurai continued, "By sacrificing Yami Kuriboh LV. 10, I can destroy all my opponent's monsters!" The evil Kuriboh suddenly glowed black and both Chess Kings were also glowing black as they were about to be consumed by a dark power, "Not only that, I can dealt damage to your Life Points equal to the total ATK of the monsters that were destroyed!" The field suddenly became enveloped in a dark explosion, giving a wave of an icy chill that made the audience shivered. The Obelisk Blue girls screamed as they took the cold blast head on.

**Kurai and Izumi: 5400. Lisa and Vanessa: 8150 – 6000 = 2150.**

The audiences were surprised that the Osiris Red duelist was able to beat the infamous tag duelists' trump cards with a little monster which held a powerful effect. They cheered like crazy because they get to witness the incredible play.

Izumi was also surprised that Kurai had protected her. She smiled, "Arigatou, Yuki."

Kurai just crossed his arms, "Don't misunderstand. I only did it to protect our Life Points."

Izumi giggled as she knew that he was just trying to be cool. She clenched her fist and raised her arm toward her opponents, "Alright! Our victory is ensured now!"

Vanessa narrowed her eyes in disappointment as her strongest monster was destroyed but then she heard a laugh. She looked at Lisa, who was laughing to herself, "Miss Lisa?"

Lisa smirked, "If you believe you won just because you beat our trump cards, you're surely mistaken."

"Huh?" Izumi was confused.

Lisa yelled, "Behold my true trump card, Ultimate Checkmate!" [**S7**] Her new spell card contained a weird picture of the King Token split in half of two colors, black and white. The king token was giving a golden aura that were blowing the inferior chess pieces away.

Izumi was surprised again, "Your true trump card, Ultimate Checkmate?"

Lisa explained, "When White Chess King and Black Chess King were sent to the graveyard by one card, a magic, a trap, or a monster that had capability of wiping out the monsters or attack all monsters, I can special summon the Grand Chess Emperor! Fear the strongest Chess monster!" The two Chess Kings suddenly appeared behind Lisa in their transparent form. They fused together, giving a warm golden glow. The golden flash covered the entire field, blinding everyone. The bright light finally disappeared, revealing a humongous figure, standing two stories tall. It was an awesome figure of royalty. He wore a black face helmet decorated with white lines and white wings on the side with golden horns on the top of the helmet. He wore a white crown and a black crown on the top of his white metallic shoulder pads while wearing black metal armors over his upper arms. His lower arms were covered by shining white bracers. His hands wore special made gloves with white outer coverings above the knuckle and black inner coverings below the knuckle. He wore black obsidian armor over his chest with silver lines decorating the edges. His silver leg armors were covered by a thick protective dress that were decorated with many black and white squares, making it look like a chessboard. Lisa laughed proudly, "This is our true trump card, Grand Chess Emperor!" [**M4 (10/4000/3000)**]

Izumi's eyes widened in great shock as she gaped, "A monster with a 4000 ATK?"

Kurai scowled as he actually felt threatened by this powerful beast.

Tsubaki just gasped, "It's the strength of a God! How can Yuki and Izumi defeat that?"

"I'm sure they will," Alexander replied, "I have faith in them."

"Beside a monster with that kind of attack must have a drawback." Ethan explained.

* * *

At the far end of the Arena, an orange red-haired teenager was watching the entire duel with his red eyes.

"Kwang, I didn't expect to see you here." A voice broke his concentration.

Kwang looked back and saw Hiroshi the Dynast who was also watching, "Dynast."

"If you're here, then is Hyun-Ki here too, right?" Hiroshi crossed his arms as he moved his eyes toward the duel.

Kwang also looked back at the duel, "No, Hyun-Ki is at the hospital."

That grabbed Hiroshi's attention as he looked back at Kwang and asked, "His condition?"

Kwang looked down, "The doctor didn't say. I'm concerned for his health."

Hiroshi just patted Kwang's back roughly since Kwang was naturally tall, "Ah, don't worry, big guy. Your friend is strong, he'll survive."

Kwang just nodded, "You're right. I'm here on Hyun-Ki's orders to watch the duel and tell the details to him. Who do you think will win, Hiroshi?"

Hiroshi narrowed his eyes, "After that foolish mistake, I thought for sure that Kurai would win but Lisa is a formidable duelist and she already made a counter attack to make up for her mistake but…" He smirked, "Kurai had yet to use his own trump card."

* * *

Vanessa smiled at Lisa's counter and she set one card face-down, "I place one card and then I end my turn."

"Draw!" Izumi drew her card, "I play Pot of Greed!" She drew two cards and she grinned as she drew good cards. She quickly played one of the cards she drew, "I play a magic card, Hammer Shot! I can destroy a monster with the highest ATK! So farewell, Grand Chess Emperor!" A giant hammer appeared right above the Emperor and fell but the hammer broke into many pieces while the Emperor remained intact, "HUH?"

Lisa explained more, "I forgot to mention. The Emperor cannot be destroyed nor removed by any cards! It also cannot return back to the deck and the hand too!"

"That powerful? How can this card be allowed to be created?" Izumi complained and frowned as she looked at her hand. She noticed the other card she drew from the Pot of Greed and then she glanced at the other cards, _'This magic card would be good but I need monsters, so this card will help me but I had no protection…I had such unlucky hand!' _She groaned as she couldn't do anything.

"If you need something, you can use one of mine." Kurai's voice grabbed her attention.

"Huh?" Izumi looked at Kurai who quickly looked away with his arms crossed. Izumi blinked in confusion and tried to process his words, _'He said I can use one of his…does that mean I can use one of his monsters for protection? The cold person is allowing me to use his monsters? He must be planning something but what?'_ She looked at her hand again and her eyes widened, _'This is my sister's card. I never get to use it because I don't have that monster yet but …I can use it.'_ She set one card down, "I place one card face-down and then I summon Maiden of the Spirits in attack mode!" [**M5 (3/700/1300)**] A cute girl materialized on the Field in a blue magician's dress with a dark blue mini skirt. She had a kind expression plastered on her face that every tiny creature can trust, "When my opponent has a monster on the Field and this card is in attack mode, I can special summon a spirit token!" Suddenly a cute glowing ball of rock with yellow beady eyes and tiny arms and legs appeared, "Also this token picks up the same type as your monster!" [**Spirit Token: Light/Rock/1/500/500**]

Izumi pointed to Vanessa, "Maiden of the Spirits, attack her directly!" The kind girl was about to go forward but Vanessa quickly countered.

Vanessa activated her set card, "I play Emperor's Favor!" [**T2**] Her trap card showed the Chess Emperor showing favors to certain lucky Chess Pieces, "As long as I don't own the Grand Chess Emperor, I don't take any damages from Direct Attacks!"

Izumi cursed, "I end my turn," She looked at Kurai, 'Yuki, I trust you.'

"Draw!" Lisa drew her card and shouted, "Grand Chess Emperor, attack the E-Merc Aquatic Priestess with Double Checkmates!" The huge emperor suddenly had two orbs glowing in his hands. The orbs suddenly grew into two giant laser swords, one of white and one of black. The emperor swung his swords like an X, creating an X shockwave with one line dark and the other line bright. The shockwave ripped through the Field and headed toward the Priestess.

Kurai yelled, "Hold it! I play my set card, Astral Barrier!" [**T3**] He activated his last set card which contained a picture of a transparent spirit of a warrior protecting the very same warrior, "When my monster is under attack, I protect that monster and allow it to attack me directly!"

"Protecting your monsters, how admirable but you're allowed yourself for direct attack!" Lisa pointed to Kurai as the X shockwave headed toward him but suddenly a black barrier prevented the shockwave from hurting him, "What!"

"Not exactly," Kurai smirked as he held Yami Kuriboh in his hand, "When I removed Yami Kuriboh from the graveyard, the battle damages is reduced to zero this turn!"

Lisa sighed out exasperation, "I place one card and end my turn. This powerful creature had a drawback." One card materialized.

"I knew it!" Izumi exclaimed.

"I must lend the control of this creature to another player at the end of the turn, it is a huge risk in a duel but," Lisa smirked, "In a tag duel, it is just an advantage for us because I can just lend it to my trusty aide!" The Grand Chess Emperor disappeared from Lisa's side of the Field and appeared on Vanessa's side.

"Thank you, Miss Lisa!" Vanessa thanked.

"That's totally unfair!" Izumi cried.

"It is a tag duel." Kurai gritted his teeth but he closed his eyes. Then instantly his eyes snapped open and he drew his card. He quickly glanced at it and smirked evilly, "Finally." He added the card to his hand, "I play Fusion Sage to add the second Polymerization to my Hand!" He searched through his deck and took the second fusion card, "Then I play De-Fusion on E-Merc Blazing Windman to bring back E-Merc Flame Berserker and E-Merc Tempest Lady!" The winged warrior suddenly split into two mercenaries, "I play Polymerization to fuse E-Merc Flame Berserker with E-Merc Steel Cutter!" The fiery warrior burst into flames that surrounded the E-Merc Steel Cutter, melting his steel armor completely into molten metal that dissolved into the ground. Suddenly the Field erupted like a volcano as the lava rose from the ground and formed a new figure, "To fusion-summon E-Merc Inferno Barbarian!" [**E-Merc Inferno Barbarian: 6/Warrior/Fire/2200/1800: [E-Merc Flame Berserker] + [E-Merc Steel Cutter]**] It was a warrior that basked in lava red armor that covered his entire body. Each part of the armor contained decorations of fire. He possessed a helmet that covered entirely his face with flaming wings on the sides. He wields a red broadsword with glowing orange edge that stood taller than the knight himself.

Kurai played the last card in his Hand, "Then I use my second Polymerization to fuse E-Merc Tempest Lady!" The flying mercenary suddenly changed into a tornado, "E-Merc Aquatic Priestess!" The blue-skinned mercenary changed into a pillar of ocean water, "And lastly, E-Merc Wood Elf Archer!" The elven mercenary changed into a tree that grew tall and nearly reached the ceiling. The wind and water swirled together with the tree, creating a dark flash that once again consumed the arena. The flash cleared, revealing the dark night of the sky and the bright full moon that entranced many audience with its silent beauty. A moment later, a shadow of figure appeared on the moon. The moonlight shone brighter, revealing a black armored warrior. Unlike the other muscular comrades before him, his body build was slender. He was dressed in a night black armor that gave a glow under the moonlight. Over his chest, his armor was built with dragon scales and had a silver symbol of the moon with two dragons surrounding it on the top of the armor. His black shoulder pads were shaped like dragon claws with a moonlight purple cape attached behind his back. His bracers and greaves were indigo color, giving his armor an exotic and fearsome look. His armored boots were shaped like the feet of the dragon with silver claws. His helmet resembled the head of the dragon with his silver horns spiraled, making it an interesting design. The warrior wielded a beautiful black spear with the silver dragon's head at the end. Out of the dragon's mouth was a large triangular blade that was clear as the moon and glowed as the full moon do. The dark warrior landed on his feet with a graceful jump and the night sky cleared back to the arena, "To fusion summon Luna Dragoon!" [**E-Merc Luna Dragoon: Dark/Warrior-Fusion/8/2600/1850: [E-Merc Aquatic Priestess] + [E- Merc Tempest Lady] + [E-Merc Wood Elf Archer]**]

The audience gasped, including his friends well except Alexander because he's sadistic freak, also maybe the Dynast too since he's a fancy top duelist.

Izumi just stared with amazement glazed in her eyes, "Woah…I never seen Yuki fuse three monsters before."

"Man, two new fusions. Just how many fusions are there?" Tsubaki asked.

"Still many more." Ethan answered.

"That's what made his duel interesting." Alexander chuckled.

Kurai summoned both of his new fusions in attack mode but Lisa quickly countered by playing her face-down card, "I activate Emperor's favor! You already know this effect! You cannot make a direct attack!"

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "I activate Luna Dragoon's effect!" The dragoon warrior crouched on his knees while holding the spear's blade downward, "Luna Dragoon can set himself in defense! I then end my turn." He gritted his teeth as he swallowed his pride, 'As much as I hate teamwork, I had no choice but to rely on that girl.'

"Draw!" Vanessa drew her card, increasing her Hand to six, "According to the Emperor's Favor, I had to discard half of my Hand to the Graveyard," She discard three cards and then analyzed the situations, _'Yuki had two new fusions but their effects are unknown. The Luna Dragoon had a powerful ATK but Yuki used some effect that made him in defense. Right now, all it matters is to do the most damage.'_ She declared her attack, "Now Grand Chess Emperor! Attack the Maiden of the Spirits with Double Checkmates!" The Emperor swung his double swords, creating a X shockwave at Izumi's monster.

Izumi cried as she was about to lose Life Points until she stuck her tongue out, "Just kidding! Activate Trap Card!" She pressed her button on her Duel Disk, 'Yuki, I trust you!' Her trap card flipped up, revealing a handsome man protecting the Magical Girl's from an enemy blast, "Lover's Protection! [**T4**] When my Maiden is about to be attack, I can switch that target to a warrior-type monster!" She glanced at Kurai's monsters, _'Yuki said I can use one of his. But he set his strongest monster in Def, meaning he must have some plan for him, leaving the big red guy. But what if he had some plan for the big red guy and he expects me to attack the strongest monster in DEF to protect our Life Points.'_ Izumi groaned to herself, _'I have to take a risk.'_ She made her choice, "The target I chose is E-Merc Inferno Barbarian!" The X shockwave headed toward the red giant barbarian. The warrior held his huge sword high and tried to block it but the shockwave easily shattered the sword and sliced the poor warrior into four pieces, "Sorry, Yuki." She closed her eyes.

**Kurai and Izumi: 5400 – 1800 = 3600. Lisa and Vanessa: 2150.**

Vanessa yelled, "I have destroyed your E-Merc Inferno Barbarian!"

Kurai just chuckled and Izumi was slightly surprised, "Yuki?"

Kurai smirked, "I was waiting for that! When my E-Merc Inferno Barbarian [**M6 (6/2200/1800)**] is sent to the Graveyard, his effect activates!" He pointed to molten lava left behind, "When there's other E-Merc monster on my side of Field, I can equip the soul of the Barbarian and increase that monster's ATK by 1000!" He inserted the Inferno Barbarian fusion monster card into the M/T slot and suddenly the lava rose from the Field and revolved around the Luna Dragoon's blade, causing the blade to glow blazing orange. **[****E-Merc Luna Dragoon: 2600 + 1000 = 3600.**]

Vanessa scowled, "No matter! Your monster is not strong enough to beat the Grand Chess Emperor! When it's Lady Lisa's turn, she will crush it! I end my turn and lend the control of the Chess Emperor to Lady Lisa!" The Chess Emperor had teleported again and appeared on Lisa's side of Field.

Lisa complimented, "Excellent job, Vanessa. I'll take it from here."

"Hmph, well it's my turn! Draw!" Izumi drew her card, "Now that it is my Standby Phase, the Spirit of the Maidens can special summons another token!" [**Spirit Token #2: Light/Rock/1/500/500**] Another floating ball of rock came out and greeted the kind girl happily, "Then I place one card face down and end my turn!"

Lisa drew her card and then she discarded two cards, "I sent two cards to the Graveyard to keep the Emperor's Favor on the Field." She glared at the Luna Dragoon set in defense, "It's not strong enough to beat our Grand Chess Emperor but I fear that it had a powerful effect. After all, you did spent three monsters to summon this creature and you increase his ATK with the help of another fusion. Therefore, I should destroy that monster right away! Grand Chess Emperor! Double Checkmates!" The Emperor swung his sword and sent a giant shockwave at the dark dragoon.

Kurai cussed as he had no cards to protect his strongest creature until…

"Not so fast, Lisa! I'm pitching all my hopes on Yuki! So I activate one of my best cards, Revival Transformation!" [**S8**] Her spell card showed a teenage girl who was all worn up and beaten up with battle injures. Normally, an average girl would give up but her eyes was shining with determination and the form of her magical girl self was behind her, supporting her, "With this card, I can special summon Magical Girl – Holy Knightess Caecilia from the graveyard! But to special summon, I had to make tributes mentioned in the Magical Costume that summon Caecilia. I must tribute three monsters and one of them must be a Maiden. So I sacrifice Maiden of the Spirits and her two Spirit Tokens," Her three monsters vanished in a golden tornados, "To bring back Magical Girl – Holy Knightess Caecilia!" The holy female knight had once again arrived to serve her master Izumi.

"That won't stop me from destroying Lord Yuki's monster!" Lisa yelled as the X shockwave was ripping a hole on the ground toward the dark dragoon until it suddenly collided with a large shield held by the Holy Knightess. The conflict between two strong opposing forces generated sparks that were flying everywhere. Lisa gasped, "What? But how?"

Izumi explained, "My Holy Knightess Caecilia had the ability to protect any monster with original ATK below her ATK from monsters! When I special summoned her on the Chessboard before, her effects were negated. To retain her powerful effect, I had to special summons her through Magical Costumes but there's an exception! With Revival Transformation, she gets to keep her effect!" Caecilia looked back at the dragoon and gave him a nod before the shield shattered and she died with honor of fulfilling her desire. Izumi closed her eyes out of sadness, "Arigatou, Caecilia. Yuki!"

**Kurai and Izumi: 3600 – 1300 = 2300. Lisa and Vanessa: 2150.**

"I already know!" Kurai yelled as he drew his card but he doesn't need it. He smirked, "I activate E-Merc Luna Dragoon's true effect!"

"His true effect?" The female duelists asked.

The dragoon suddenly stood up while still crouching as he was preparing for a jump. Kurai explained, "To activate E-Merc Luna Dragoon's effect, [**M7 (8/2600/1850)**] it had to go to the DEF mode until the next turn. And when that turn comes, E-Merc Luna Dragon's original ATK doubled!" The dark dragoon's ATK suddenly soared into a whooping power of 6200. [**E-Merc Luna Dragoon: 2600 x 2 = 5200 + 1000 (from Inferno Barbarian) = 6200**] "E-Merc Luna Dragoon! Attack the Grand Chess Emperor with Moon Dragon's Claw!"

The dragoon suddenly jumped so fast and so high as he was soaring to the moon. When he finally reached the full moon that was formed as the dragoon reached the ceiling. He held his spear high, letting his weapon absorb the mystical power of the moon. After standing still in the air for few seconds, the dragoon suddenly dove in the speed of a bullet. He charged forward with his spear in the front, creating a burning aura around him from the tip of the blade. As the dragoon was near the evil Chess Emperor, for a split second, his aura took the shape of a black dragon charging forward with its silver claws extended forward. The spear pierced through the Chess Emperor's armor but it was not enough to destroy the rock giant.

Everyone just gasped, wondering what would happen the very next second. The tension was high and the audiences wouldn't dare break the silence. Kurai broke the silence, "I knew the Grand Chess Emperor cannot be destroyed as the result of battle but that doesn't mean you can take battle damage! My mercenary did 2200 damage to your Life Points which is more than enough!" He brought his thumb down, "Game over."

**Kurai and Izumi: 2300. Lisa and Vanessa: 2150 – 2200 = 0.**

Lisa was stunned with her eyes wide as baseballs because she had never lost until now. She just closed her eyes and smiled slightly, "It's over."

The audience suddenly roared like crazy as they enjoyed a very exciting duel.

"YUKI!" Izumi cried out of happiness as she suddenly rushed up to Kurai and hugged him tightly, "We won! We get to stay on the island!"

Kurai screamed and used his arms to try to pry her off, "Get the hell off me! I told you, no touching me!" He couldn't get her off as her grip was too strong.

The audience continued cheering while clapping their hands for an incredible duel.

* * *

Tyrell cheered as he raised his gloved fists up, "Alright! Now that was one awesome duel!" He clapped his hands.

"I guess, they did okay for troublemakers," Morgan clapped her hands lightly.

"Their skills will take them far, I'm sure of it." Schmitt clapped his hands too.

Mileah gave a small smile as she clapped her hands too, "The spirits are satisfied and now are ready to move on." She quickly gave a small chant and prayer.

"Heh, is that so?" Gabriel commented as he clapped his hands softly. He too enjoyed the duel.

Rebecca smiled cheerily, "Congrats, guys."

The Fisherman chuckled, "I would love to see how their talents develop in this Academy. They intrigued me." His sunglasses glinted.

Zenobia just smirked vilely, "Yes, I agree. They do intrigue me too and I would love to see their special talents." She thought to herself, _'After all, they did beat that special card I gave to my prized students.'  
_

* * *

Rad was laughing like crazy as he clapped his hands above his head, "Everyone, you all rule!"

Shizuka smiled as she clapped her hands and nodded in agreement, _'Congratulations Izumi-chan, your first victory will make you grow stronger than before. When that day comes, I want to duel you again.'_ She closed her eyes as she remembered her brother, _'Onii-san, I met some really interesting people.'_

Ethan just went back to his notebook, not even joining the celebration, "I'll have to calculate everything from the start again."

Rad just slapped Ethan's back, "Come on, man! Liven up and have some fun!" He blinked, "Hey, where's Tsubaki?"

Ethan growled at Rad for slapping his back and looked away, "How am I supposed to know where that moron go? Although, I had an idea where he is."

"Tell me! Tell me!" Rad shook Ethan like crazy.

* * *

The Dynast laughed, "Kurai has done it again!"

Kwang crossed his arms, "I must report this to Hyun-Ki. I did not expect his victory."

Hiroshi smirked, "Well, he is a strong duelist. Sure, he's a Osiris Red but you can't let that determine the true worth of a duelist."

"And I agree with that." A calm voice suddenly caught their attention. Kwang and Hiroshi looked back and saw Alexander standing there with a sadistic smile on his face, "Yuki is a strong duelist."

Kwang narrowed his red eyes, "Alexander Von Schroeder, so you too believe that Yuki Kurai is a good duelist. How can you be so sure of that?"

Alexander smiled but it wasn't sadistic smile, "He has an unexpected potential that one day would surprise us all," His smile then became sadistic, "Also, I get to know about his other half."

"His other half?" Kwang asked.

"Don't bother asking, Kwang," Hiroshi advised, "Alexander is a sadistic freak. He won't spoil it for you."

Alexander chuckled, "If I spoil others, people would get lazy and keep asking me all the time. Beside, I love surprises."

Kwang just frowned, "I'm going to report to Hyun-Ki." He quickly left.

"Give my regards to him." Alexander shouted to the fleeing figure.

"The other half? You make it sound so mysterious." Hiroshi complained in a teasing way.

Alexander smirked, "It's my job."

* * *

Lisa was walking down the stairs off the dueling field with Vanessa following her.

Vanessa was concerned since it was Lisa's first loss in a long while, "Miss Lisa?"

Lisa stopped in her tracks and she looked back with a true smile instead of fake, "That was fun, wasn't it, Vanessa?"

Vanessa blinked in surprise as she didn't expected Lisa to take her loss so calmly. Her change of attitude impressed her and gave her a smile, "Yes, Miss Lisa." She agreed.

Lisa continued walking while thinking to herself, _'I'll just get stronger for Lord Yuki because,'_ She giggled, _'I believe I love that man.'_

Vanessa had a sweat droplet as she recognized that giggle of crush. She sighed as she smacked her head. What was she thinking? Lisa changed? HA!

* * *

"Izumi! Yuki!" A red haired hot headed boy suddenly rushed to the Osiris Red duelists and gave both of them a bone crushing hug, "I knew you guys would win!" He laughed.

Izumi laughed along with him, "Thanks, Tsubaki!"

Kurai groaned under Tsubaki's arm, "Someone kill me….please."

Izumi and Tsubaki looked at Kurai with sadness and teary eyes, "Do you really hate us that much?" They said it at the same time.

Kurai twitched as he hated those eyes so much. He sighed, "I was kidding."

"I knew it! Yuki, you're not so bad once in a while!" Tsubaki gave Kurai a victory noogie which earned him a growl and threat to kill Tsubaki.

Izumi just laughed as she enjoyed their weird friendship and their new victory.

As they celebrated the victory, the first quarter of the year had finally ended with a bang. Who knows what awaited them at their second quarter.

* * *

Meanwhile, a black hooded figure was climbing a very rocky cliff with his hands and feet. He grabbed one of the rocks with his dark-skinned hand, causing his cloak to fell slightly, revealing the Millennium Eye. It was Shadow, the mysterious duelist that had dueled Kurai before, the same duelist that had introduced Kurai to the dangerous ruin. As Shadow continued to climb the cliff until he felt an ominous wind blowing at him. He looked at the stormy sky and narrowed his eyes as he tried to comprehend the situation. He closed his eyes and spoke, "So the wheel of Destiny had move forward."

"And a new shadow game has begins once again."

**

* * *

TBC**

**Rad: **That was an awesome duel! I wish I get a chance to tag duel!

**Shizuka smiled: **They definitely tried their hardest and won, huh? It's wonderful.

**Rad: **But putting that aside, the next episode is not even about us but the mysterious duelist himself!

**Shizuka: **Eh, who is it?

**Rad: **Shadow! Kinda make you wonder what he's doing here? EH, he's gonna be in a world of Duel monsters? I wanna go!

**Shizuka: **The world of Duel Monsters actually exists?

**Rad: **How am I supposed to know? Shadow is the main character of the next episode! We won't even get a chance to see this cool world! That's so not fair! I didn't even get to tag duel, duel against Yuki, and now I can't see the world of Duel Monsters? I think I'm feeling depressed now.

**Shizuka: **Radnor-san….um…._I'm not sure how to cheer him up…um what would Onii-san say?_

**Rad: **Oh well, I'll get my chance next time! **::he laughed::**

**Next Episode: Episode 18 - Shadow's Discovery! Sara's Story  
**

**Shizuka sweatdropped: **You're very positive, aren't you, Radnor-san?

**

* * *

Card of the Day – E-Merc Luna Dragoon**

**Alexander: **This is the first time that Yuki used triple monsters for fusion and that created a very powerful monster.

**Tsubaki: **Jeeze, Yuki gets so many fusions! Isn't there a limit?

**Alexander smiled: **Depends on how much elemental combinations he has left to use.

**Tsubaki sweatdropped: **At this rate, we might not even seen them all.

**Alexander smiled: **Oh, we can see them all. We just need to cut away some unimportant duels to make room for more Kurai's duels.

**Tsubaki**: An unimportant duel? Like filler episodes?

**Alexander smiled: **Like…yours.

**Tsubaki gaped: **I'm unimportant?

**Alexander smiled: **Yeah, you just got demoted to recurring character status.

**Tsubaki: **You mean I became a loser like the teachers and those crazy Obelisk Blue girls? NOOOOOOOO!

**Alexander smiled as he looked at the screen: **Oh you know I'm just joking.

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****White Chess King: Light/Rock/8/3000/2700**: Effect: This card cannot be normal summoned. This card can only be special summoned by [Coronation of the White King]. Once per main turn, this card can gain the effects of one of the monsters that were removed to summon this card till the end of the turn.

**M2 - ****Black Chess King: Dark/Rock/8/3000/2700**: Effect: This card cannot be normal summoned. This card can only be special summoned by [Coronation of the Black King]. Once per main turn, this card can gain the effects of one of the monsters that were removed to summon this card till the end of the turn.

**M3 - ****Yami Kuriboh LV. 10: Dark/Demon/10/300/200**: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by the effect of "Condescendent Wings". You may sacrifice this monster to destroy all face-up monsters on your opponent's side of the field and inflict Direct Damage to your opponent's Life Points equal to the total ATK of the destroyed monsters. You can only activate this effect during your opponent's Battle Phase.

**M4 - ****Grand Chess Emperor: Light/Rock/10/4000/3000**: Effect: This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card can only be special summoned by the [Ultimate Chessmate]. This card is also treated as Dark type. This card cannot be destroyed or removed as the result of battle. This card cannot be destroyed or removed by magic and trap cards. This card cannot return to the Deck or Hand by the effects of monster, magic, or trap. At the end of your turn, lend this card's control to another player.

**M5 - ****Maiden of the Spirits: Earth/3/700/1300**: Effect: When there's an opponent's monster on the Field and you summon this card in attack mode, you can summon a token (1/500/500) that had the same main type and subtype as the opponent's monster. At your standby phase, if your opponent had monsters on his or her Field and this card remains in attack mode, special summon another token with the main and sub-type of one of the opponent's monsters.

**M6 - ****E-Merc Inferno Barbarian: 6/Warrior/Fire/2200/1800**: [E-Merc Flame Berserker] + [E-Merc Steel Cutter]: Effect: This card can only be fusion summoned. When this card is destroyed as a result of battle, you can equip it to a monster with [E-Merc] on the field and increases its attack by 1000. If there are no monsters on your field, this card can be equip to one of your opponent's monsters and decrease its attack by 1500.

**M7 - ****Elemental Merc Luna Dragoon: Dark/Warrior-Fusion/8/2600/1850**: [E-Merc Aquatic Priestess] + [E- Merc Tempest Lady] + [E-Merc Wood Elf Archer]: Effect: To activate this effect, this monster must be in defense mode. During the next turn, this monster's original ATK doubled till the end of the turn.

**S1 - ****A New Game – Normal Spell**: Destroy all monsters with [Chess] within its name on the Field, for each monster that was destroyed, gain 1000 Life Points. Both players can draw cards until the number in their Hand is 5.

**S2 - ****Coronation of the White King – Normal Spell**: Remove monsters with the following names, [White Chess Pawn], [White Chess Knight], [White Chess Rook], [White Chess Bishop], and [White Chess Queen] from the Graveyard to special summon [White Chess King] from your Hand or Deck.

**S3 - ****Abandon Strategy – Quick-Play Spell**: You can activate this card from your Hand anytime. Tribute a face-up spell or trap card with [Strategy] in its name, the battle damages is reduced to zero and end your opponent's battle phase.

**S4 - ****Coronation of the Black King – Normal Spell**: Remove monsters with the following names, [Black Chess Pawn], [Black Chess Knight], [Black Chess Rook], [Black Chess Bishop], and [Black Chess Queen] from the Graveyard to special summon [Black Chess King] from your Hand or Deck.

**S5 - ****Kuriboh Calling Trumpet – Instant Spell**: Add [Kuriboh] or [Yami Kuriboh] from your deck into your hand. Or special summon [Kuriboh] or [Yami Kuriboh] to the field.

**S6 - ****Condescendent Wings – Quick Play Spell**: Send 1 "Yami Kuriboh" you control from the field to the Graveyard and discard 2 cards from your hand. Special Summon 1 "Yami Kuriboh LV10" from your hand or Deck.

**S7 - ****Ultimate Checkmate – Quick Play Spell**: This card can only activates when both "White Chess King" and "Black Chess King" were destroyed and sent to the Graveyard by the effect of one card, special summon "Grand Chess Emperor" from your deck or hand.

**S8 - ****Revival Transformation – Quick Play Spell**: Select a monster with [Magical Girl] from your graveyard. In order to special summon the selected card, you must take the required sacrifices mention in the [Magical Costume] that is mentioned in the selected cards text. When this monster is special summoned through this effect it still retains its effect.

**T1 - ****Elemental Recover – Normal Trap**: For each [E-Merc] monster on your side of the Field, increase your Life Points by 1000.

**T2 - ****Emperor's Favor – Continuous Trap**: This card can only activate when there's Grand Chess Emperor on the Field. If the Grand Chess Emperor is not on your side of the Field, damages caused by Direct Attack are reduced to zero. During your standby phase, you discard half of your Hand to keep this card on the Field.

**T3 - ****Astral Barrier – Continuous Trap**: If your opponent's monster attacks a monster on your side of the field, you can make the attack a direct attack to your Life Points.

**T4 - ****Lover's Protection – Normal Trap**: When a Maiden or Magical Girl monster is under attack, switch that target into a warrior-type monster.


	33. 18A: Shadow's Discovery! Sara's Story

**Author's note: **It has been a week since I updated, huh? I had school, work, and I was having fun with Sengoku Basara 2…man, I just love Ranmaru's shooting combos with his super special moves. With all that excitement in the previous chapters, it's now time to enter a relaxing pace of random duels lol like GX but not to worry; there will be another mini-arc that will actually not take place in the Duel Academy Island after six episodes! Also, I like to note that we don't have another excerpt from Yugioh GX! Because this episode is still at the same day as the previous tag duel chapters. I hope you enjoy reading and thanks for reviewing!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX!

**

* * *

Episode 18: Shadow's Discovery! Sara's Story **

**Part A**

The sun was setting and the sky darkened into night. It was a long day at the South Duel Academy because the school just finished their biggest main event of the day, the tag duel between Obelisk Blue vs. Osiris Red. The results surprised the audience but the duel was so entertaining that the students and staff didn't really care who won or lost as they cheered for the participating duelists' incredible display of their skills. It didn't take long that after the tag-duel that the students wanted to continue the excitement. So in response, Lisa declared a party at the Obelisk Blue mansion for all grades to celebrate the duel. Normally, on a school day, the students should have return to classes but teachers knew that it would be foolish to restrain the student's enthusiasm, so they permitted the party with the exception of Professor Morgan but everyone knew she's just a rule-holic, so her voice was already lost among the partying crowd.

Within the Obelisk Blue castle, the party was held at the grand hall shaped like a dome. In the center of the dome was a beautiful crystal chandelier hanging above a huge circular space used for dance floor filled with numerous students of various grades dancing to the music. There were also many round dinner tables covered with white table cloths scattered around the outskirts. Separating the dance floor and the dinner tables were four curved table formed in a complete circle filled with buffet trays of various cuisines.

Right by the buffet table, Tsubaki, Osiris Red, was grabbing all kinds of food onto three plates held on top of his arm. His eyes had faint stars in the center with sparkles around as he was on top of Cloud 9.

Rad, Ra Yellow, just stared at Tsubaki grabbing food from the trays to his plates back and forth as he was some mechanical toy. He just gazed in amazement of his friend's obviously large appetite, "Jeeze, Tsubaki, are you seriously going to eat all that?"

"Of course, I am!" Tsubaki snapped back with a clang of the tongs in his hand, "Being a poor Osiris Red student like I am, you don't know how I suffered everyday with low quality cheap tasting food. Everyday for lunch was whatever fishes that the cafeteria ladies caught from the ocean. I have nothing against fishes but eating it everyday? It was pure torture. So…" He suddenly went back to grabbing more food, "Let me enjoy my momentary paradise before I swim with the fishes again!"

"Hmm, eating fishes every day, huh?" Rad imagined it and then grinned happily, "Man, I would love to have that! You're so lucky, Tsubaki! In Ra Yellow, all we have are classic foods like burgers, fried chicken, pasta…" He continued on with the list.

Tsubaki roared with sharp canine teeth, "Are you trying to make me want to kill you? Because it's really working!"

"You're still eating, Tsubaki?" Izumi, Osiris Red, who just escaped from the dancing crowd and met with her friends, "You know you're going to get fat from eating all that."

"Hey!" Tsubaki countered as he averted his eyes from Rad to Izumi, "Like I told Rad, how often am I going to enjoy this 5-star food? Not that often!"

"Well, just stop eating and just dance!" Izumi suggested excitedly as she couldn't hold still while listening to an upbeat song in the background. She twirled around, "Dancing is really fun!" She stopped spinning, "You don't know what you're missing!"

Tsubaki rolled his eyes, "Of course, you would say that." He looked at Izumi with an obvious expression, "You're the kind of person who loves DDR more than dueling!"

Izumi laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head, "That's true…" She then noticed Kurai, Osiris Red, just sitting at a nearby dinner table. He was sipping sake (well fine, soda!) from a wine glass. She quickly walked up to him and asked, "Hey, Yuki, why not dance with me?"

"Declined." Kurai continued drinking his soda with his bored expression. He was a loner, so it was quite clear that he didn't like large gatherings.

Izumi pouted disappointedly, "Aw, well, you're no fun!"

"No kidding," Tsubaki agreed as he looked away from the food toward Kurai, "I asked if he wants anything from the buffet. He said no as he was not hungry. Then I said well, how often are you going to eat food like this? You know what he said?" He put on his best Kurai impersonation, "Food is food. It's all going to end up same inside the stomach."

Rad crossed his arms and swayed his head, "That's sad. It's like that he lost the inner child of himself."

Tsubaki nodded his head in agreement, "Yep."

Kurai's forehead vein throbbed. He then picked up a knife on the table, "I probably can't kill with a butter knife but I'm sure I can fatally wound someone."

Tsubaki immediately turned around to face the buffet, "And I'm going back to my food!" He knew that Kurai was capable of doing such thing.

"Lord Yuki!" A familiar high-pitched voice grabbed the duelists' ears.

Tsubaki had a large sweat droplet on his forehead as he knew that voice, "Don't tell me…"

Izumi cringed as she recognized the voice, "Ah! It's Lisa!" She quickly glanced around to see where she's coming from. Then out of nowhere, Izumi was suddenly pushed aside as the blonde girl madly in love ran up to Kurai.

Rad blinked in confusion, "Izumi, I never knew you like cake that much." He was staring at poor Izumi whose face landed on a five-tier cake on the dessert table.

"Aww, man! I was gonna try that cake next!" Tsubaki whined as he cared about the cake more than his best friend.

Izumi quickly stood up, her face covered entirely in frosting. She grumbled at Tsubaki, "Jeeze, thanks for caring."

Lisa quickly sat next to Kurai and scooted closer to him, "Oh Lord Yuki," Her eyes wavered with sparkles of admiration and love, "What do you think of the party? I think it's worthy of your grand victory over me and my partner."

Kurai replied boredly, "It's okay." He then looked at the empty glass. He groaned slightly as he didn't felt like getting up from his spot just to get a refill.

"What about the food?" Lisa wanted to please Kurai, "I made sure the chefs here cook the best food available in the world."

"I wasn't hungry." Kurai put the glass down on the table and then leaned back on his table chair.

"Oh? Was the menu not to your liking?" Lisa smiled knowingly, "I suspected that so I prepared this in advance." She clicked her finger.

Vanessa instantly appeared out of nowhere with a large circular Japanese box filled with all kinds of beautiful sushi. Kurai's eyes actually widened slightly in interest as he leaned forward to grab one.

"Uh-uh." Lisa waved her finger, signaling Vanessa to pull the sushi box away from Kurai.

"Ah…" Kurai, for the first time, whimpered slightly.

Tsubaki couldn't believe his ears as he stared at Kurai with his jawbone dropped in shock, _'Is Yuki actually whimpering over sushi?'_

"If you want those sushi," Lisa smiled seductively as she tapped Kurai's lips with her finger, "just dance with me."

Tsubaki rolled his eyes in disgust, _'Like Yuki is actually going to sell himself just for sushi.'_

"Sure." Kurai said it right away.

Tsubaki suddenly fell down with his dinner plates flying in midair.

Izumi gasped after wiping her face clean with towel, "Hey! How come you don't wanna dance with me but you dance with Lisa?"

Kurai crossed his arms, "I like sushi."

Alexander smiled with his eyes closed, "They said the quickest way to a man's heart is a well-made food."

"Alex!" Izumi nearly fell back in surprise as she saw Alexander right beside her. She groaned, "You seriously gotta stop doing that appearing out of nowhere act."

Alexander chuckled, "Sorry, sorry, allow me to pay you back by asking you to dance with me." He offered his hand.

"Well, might as well since Yuki won't dance with me." Izumi took his hand as Alexander led her to the dance floor.

Tsubaki just looked at Kurai with disbelief in his eyes, "You seriously do anything for sushi, do you?"

"Hnn." Kurai opened his mouth and ate fatty tuna roll.

* * *

Couple of blocks away from the Obelisk Blue Castle, was the Duel Academy Center. It was entirely dark except the very top floor that was lightly dimmed. That top floor was the Principal's office. In that office, the only light that on was the desk lamp on top of the heavy grand desk in the middle of the room. The tanned principal was staring through the glass window walls that gazed upon almost the entire island and the ocean. Instead of his usual carefree smile and closed eyes on his face, he had a stern look with his eyes as he was in deep thoughts, _'Who was the one who entered the ruins before the students?' _Kamil then felt a breeze chilling the back of neck. Afterwards, he heard soft footsteps inching closer to him.

"You asked for me?" A deep voice spoke.

"Yeah, I did…" Kamil slowly turned around to face a familiar man covered in black Egyptian hooded robe, "Shadow." He said the name of the hooded man.

"What is it?" Shadow went straight to the point.

Kamil scoffed at Shadow's bluntness, "Jeeze, you just got here, old buddy. Can't we hang out, drink fine wine, and talk about old times?" He joked.

Shadow narrowed his eyes seriously, "I only came because I recognized you as the reincarnation of the man who I own my debt to. It's very rare that you summoned me because you refused to follow the same path that your ancestor took."

Kamil closed his eyes, "What can I say? I prefer the skies and the seas over musky old tombs. The life of the tomb-keeper really does not suit me."

"If you do not tell your reason for my summons, I'll leave and continue my search." Shadow turned around and headed for the door.

"Alright, alright," Kamil waved his hand as he gave up fooling around, "You're so impatient. How about some respect for me?"

Shadow faced him, "I respect the one I knew in the past, not the one I see in the present."

"Okay, moving on," Kamil decided to talk about the main subject, "I'm sure you're aware that my students have entered the ruins in this island?"

Shadow closed his eyes, "I had seen the pillar of light. I knew that the ruin was intruded."

Kamil continued, "Then do you know this? One of my students participated in a game that you probably haven't seen in awhile. Do you know what it is? A shadow game."

Shadow opened his eyes in slight surprise, "Impossible. No one is capable of starting a shadow game unless…"

Kamil finished, "Unless you have the Millennium Item." He nodded in agreement, "What else could it be?"

Shadow remembered that he once possessed two of those items, one around his neck and the other in his hand. Of course, he knew what happened to the seven mythical items, "The Millennium Items are buried deep in the Valley of Kings. They are forever lost and should be remained lost."

Kamil knew that Shadow was right. It was impossible for anyone in today's time to possess the Millennium Item. After the ceremonial battle, those legendary items fell into the bottomless pit and were lost for eternity. He sighed as he was getting nowhere, "My student partook in the shadow game, someone must have caused it. I wanna know who did it. I wanna know who entered the ruins already."

Shadow advised, "If you know how the shadow game began, it would not be hard to find the person who started it."

"But only the Millennium Items can initiate the shadow game." Kamil pointed it out but then he remembered something in the recesses of his old memories, "Wait…there might be something else…"

Shadow narrowed his eyes sternly as he urged the principal to continue.

"I remembered something in my old memories…" Kamil tapped his chin as he was trying hard to remember, "…the Dark Items."

Shadow's eyes widened as he was slightly surprised. He remembered that name as it was almost strong as the memory of the time he received his Millennium Item. He closed his eyes as he reminisced. He the answered, "It's also impossible for the Dark Items to be here for they existed in the realm of Duel Monsters and are being protected by the Gravekeepers of the royal tomb."

Kamil groaned as he was running out of ideas, "Well, I guess the only way to find out who is this grave robber…" He looked at Shadow seriously, "would be to ask you to investigate this hence my reason for summoning you here."

Shadow was silent. He never really took requests as he did his own things for the sake of Pharaoh in the past. But just this once, Shadow replied, "Very well." He agreed to investigate it.

"Thank you." Kamil sighed in relief.

* * *

Elsewhere inside the Duel Academy center, the Principal's office was not the only place lit and occupied. Located at the lower floor, a room filled with computers was lit by a glow of a single computer desktop. Facing that computer was a small blonde instructor who staring at the screen intently. Rebecca typed on the keyboard in frantic pace as she was trying to finish her investigation quickly before anyone found her out. She looked at multiple windows that popped on the screen filled with various information but it wasn't the information she wanted. She chewed on her thumbnail, a disgusting habit she knew but she couldn't help it as she was in a rut, "Damnit…why can I find out what was inside that ruins? Just what kinda secret is that Fish guy is hiding from me? What is Pegasus hiding there?" She frowned as she remembered the conversation between Kamil and Shadow that she overheard behind the principal's office doors, "I knew the Fish guy was Egyptian from his skin color but I didn't think he would be one of those Tomb Keepers that darling told me about. What is the connection between the Fish guy and Shadow? I know about the Millennium Items but Dark Items?" She grabbed her own head and rubbed it furiously as she yelled out of frustration, "There's too many questions and no answers!"

"Rebecca-san?"

"Ahhh!" Rebecca panicked and she quickly looked toward the door.

Standing on the doorsill was Shizuka, a friend of her. She was surprised by Rebecca's reaction and asked, "Rebecca-san, what are you doing here?"

Rebecca sighed in relief as she now knew it was her friend instead of someone else, "Jeeze, you scared me…" She looked at Shizuka, "How do you know I was here?"

Shizuka walked past the doorsill, letting the door slid closed behind her. She walked up to the instructor, "I didn't see you at the party and then I remembered that you were asking me questions about the shadow game. So I thought you would be here, researching about it."

"Hmm," Rebecca was impressed with Shizuka's keen sense of observation, "You know me quite well, don't you?"

Shizuka smiled, "We do share a bond since we have a common friend." She glanced at the computer screen, "So do you find anything?"

Rebecca moaned disappointedly, "No…I search every record of the Duel Academy database even the secret ones which can only mean one thing."

Shizuka asked, "One thing?"

Rebecca groaned, "The Fish guy didn't put the secret of the ruin in the database which means it is in his mind only and no one else knows it except Pegasus. If I talk to him, he would never spill."

Shizuka pondered as she tapped her finger on her chin, "Hmm, why not ask Yugi? Didn't he know Pegasus personally? Maybe he could ask Pegasus for you?"

Rebecca mouthed, "True…" She looked away in embarrassment, "I did thought of that already but…Darling has been busy lately, so I don't think I can bother him right now."

Shizuka asked again, "Well, is it really important to know what's inside the ruin?"

"…Not really…" Rebecca hated to admit, "Since everyone is alive and living well, I guess the secret of the ruin doesn't really matter now…" She groaned out of frustration, "But as long as the archeologist's blood runs in my vein, I gotta know what's hidden inside that ruin!"

Shizuka giggled at her friend's antics, "Well, maybe it'll come up again and the Principal will have to tell you."

Rebecca growled, "He better, that stupid lecherous pervert."

* * *

Later that night, Shadow journeyed through the dark jungle and arrived at the Ruin. He could see that the ruin's entrance was so heavily damaged with statues fallen over the entry pathway. The large entrance doors were jarred opened but the path was entirely covered by extra large rocks that poured out from the inside. He narrowed his eyes as he knew that there was no way of entering the ruin but he remembered what Kamil told him.

"_Since you're going to go, I'm going to have tell you something important." Said Kamil._

_Shadow looked back at Kamil as he was about to leave for the ruin._

_Kamil continued, "My staff told me that the entrance of the ruin was completely destroyed. You probably won't find any way to get in."_

_Shadow narrowed his eyes, "Then how do you suggest I get in?"_

_Kamil answered, "There's actually secret entrance that only Pegasus and I know. Behind the ruins, there's actually a secret level under a small rock. If you find a rare purple flower, you'll see the rock right under it."_

_Shadow turned back toward the door, "I understand. I'll take my leave." He then left._

Shadow paved his way through the damaged structure. He eventually arrived at the back of the ruins which was a plain stone wall. He then looked away from the ruin toward the jungle filled with different kind of plants and flowers. He knew it was going to be hard to find a dark-colored flower in the middle of the night. But luckily, fate was helping him out. The moon shone its light at the very spot where the purple flower was grown. Guided by the moonlight, Shadow walked his way there and found a rock below the flower. He lifted the rock to see a circular symbol of the Wdjat Eye. He kneeled by the circle and twisted it clockwise. He then heard a rumbling sound of something large moving and looked back to see the wall moving away, forming a new pathway.

Shadow hid the level as he walked to the new entrance. He then looked down as he was looking for something else. His eyes widened slightly as he noticed a tore symbol on the stone floor.

"_Oh yeah, there's one more thing," Kamil mentioned._

_Shadow narrowed his eyes in complete annoyance. He was leaving but this man kept interrupting him. He looked back with a stern glare, "Interrupt me one more time and I will not help out."_

"_Sorry," Kamil apologized sheepishly, "but this is seriously important and I have to make sure." He opened his eyes to express the seriousness of the situation, "With my little Ka, I set a small symbol near the secret entrance. Before you walk in, I want you to look for that symbol. If it is intact, that means no one has entered the ruin that way…but…if…it is not intact…"_

Shadow walked in and examined the broken symbol, _'The intruder wouldn't go through the front door without releasing a pillar of light, so it means that the intruder not only is capable of starting a shadow game but it also knew about the secret entrance. It's highly likely that this person knew about the secret hidden in the ruin.'_ He decided to walk deeper inside the ruin to find out more.

It didn't take long before the secret pathway merged into the main pathway that students walked through before. As the robed man walked down the broken hallway, he took the time to remember what Kamil mentioned, the Dark Items. How long had it been since Shadow heard that word. It was far too long.

* * *

Few thousand years ago, deep inside the royal palace of the Egyptian capital, there was a library filled with ancient books and old scrolls written by previous Pharaohs. In that library, a short old man, dressed in white rich robes and wore a tall purple hat decorated with Wdjat's eye and golden cobra, was reading an old book he collected from a nearby shelf. He then heard foot steps and averted his eyes from the book to the newcomer.

It was a young man, who was also dressed in white robes with a mysterious golden cross with an oval-shaped loop above hung around his neck. He asked, "Do you summon me, Master Shimon?" He said the name of the old man.

"Yes. Yes, I did." Shimon closed the book, "I have something that I must tell you since you are now one of the Pharaoh's guardians."

The young man narrowed his eyes in seriousness, "Is it important?"

Shimon nodded his head once, "It is very important."

The young man looked confused and then asked, "What is it, Master Shimon?"

"The Dark Items." Shimon answered.

"The Dark Items?" The young man repeated.

"Many moons ago," Shimon explained, "when the enemy forces invaded our country, the Pharaoh and the original Guardians used the Millennium Items for the first time ever. We summoned Duel Monsters Spirits and sent our enemies fleeing back to their home countries. We were victorious and our country is now powerful, thanks to the Millennium Items we wielded."

The young man knew this story already about the original Guardians and how the Millennium Items existed. He remained silent as he allowed his teacher continued the story.

"Fully basked in the sweetness of victories, we failed to notice that something was wrong." Shimon spoke gravely, "Something was wrong with the Millennium Items."

The young man was surprised to hear it from Shimon. He knew that that Millennium Items were indeed powerful and could be very dangerous in hands of evil. But he knew about those dangers, was Shimon talking about something different?

Shimon continued, "Few of our monsters we summoned went on rampage and damaged the royal city. Some even appeared without the help of summoning and attacked citizens. The Pharaoh was gravely upset, so we swore to find out the cause. It didn't take long for us to realize that the Millennium Items were the ones."

The young man questioned, "I thought the Millennium Items were fully capable of controlling Duel Monsters. Why would it go out of control?"

Shimon answered, "It was not the Millennium Items' powers that caused it. No, the Millennium Items were indeed powerful and almost flawless. The reason for this travesty was because the Millennium Items existed."

The young man was confused, "Just because it existed?"

Shimon looked back at the young man, "For countless years, we never relied on the ancient power of the Gods. We had never used the Millennium Spellbook until desperate times called for it. Now by using the powers of Gods, we possessed the Millennium Items but by possessing those powerful artifacts, we disrupted the balance between our world and the Duel Monsters world."

"The balance between our world and the Duel Monsters world?"

"We'll get to that part soon but first," Shimon asked, "Are you aware that light can not exist without darkness? Without evil, there can be no good? Without night, there wouldn't be day."

The young man nodded, "The harmony of light and darkness."

Shimon narrowed his eyes in seriousness, "Then you're fully aware that the balance between good and evil can not be disrupted. When we created the Millennium Items that donned the powers that our Holy and Sacred Gods used, the balance had deeply tipped toward the light."

The young man commented, "But if that happened, that means there will be disastrous event that will have so much darkness and negativity to ensure that balance."

Shimon nodded, "By bringing the Millennium Items, we had brought forth the seeds of darkness into our world. I can feel it in my old bones that a great disaster will come forth."

The young man became concerned, "Is there anything we can do to prevent this future disaster, Master Shimon? Perhaps, we can destroy the Millennium Items."

"Even by destroying it, it can not undo what was done already." Shimon countered, "The only thing we can do is lessen the impact in the future by restoring the balance."

"Restoring the balance?" The young man asked but he then realized, "The Dark Items."

Shimon nodded, "That's correct. Just as the Millennium Items possessed the power of Gods, to counteract that light, the Dark Items were created. True to its name, the Dark Items possessed the powers of the demons of darkness."

"I see," The young man understood, "But then where are those Dark Items?"

Shimon answered, "In the world of Duel Monsters."

The young man's body shook slightly in shock and his eyes widened but he quickly remained composed to listen to his mentor's story.

Shimon sensed his student's shock. It was a surprising bit of information but he knew that the young man must listen more, "Remember I mentioned the balance between Duel Monster World and our world? The Millennium Items were brought into existence here. It's only natural that the Dark Items should exist in Duel Monsters World to ensure the balance of light and dark and also to ensure the balance between two worlds. At the same time, as long as the Dark Items remained in the Duel Monsters World, it will not fall into the hands of evil in our world."

* * *

Shadow's mind returned to the present as he questioned himself, _'The Millennium Items were not destroyed but they were lost for eternity…did someone brought the Dark Item here from the Duel Monster World…if so...this world will be in grave danger again…_' He then realized something important, '…_so this is why the Pharaoh woke. He knew the world will be in danger again, so he appeared to give guidance to a duelist.'_ He narrowed his eyes, _'But I have not found that duelist.'_

Fortunately for Shadow, his pathway was obstacle-free because the traps were previously activated by the ones before him and were ruined during the collapse. However, it was going way too smoothly. He then felt a presence but he didn't make any sudden movement to alert the new presence. He decided to continue on his path while keeping his senses on high alert. Each step he took, he could feel that presence was getting closer and closer. It didn't take him long to realize that this presence was dangerous. He analyzed, _'This presence is no mere human…it seemed it's trying to prevent me from discovering who was here…' _At that moment, Shadow knew he must take risks. Before he make his action, he was waiting for a signal.

Suddenly, that presence accidentally bumped into a rock, making large crumbling sound. It was the signal that Shadow needed as he made a mad dash. He was running as fast as he could and he knew that the stalker was running too, _'I have to lose this one…' _He ran through a path littered with heavy obstacles in attempt to slow the stalker down. He didn't look back but he could hear those obstacles being crushed behind him. Shadow knew that the presence was not losing speed at all. His eyes widened in shock as he felt the dangerous presence vanished. He narrowed his eyes as he stopped running and looked back. There was nothing there except rubbles. He sighed as he rested to take a breath.

Instantly, the wall broke down behind Shadow, causing him to turn around to face the stalker. It was an enormous gray-skinned snake with its head bigger than Shadow's body. Shadow was surprised, _'A snake?' _

The snake hissed loudly as it suddenly pounced toward the hooded man. With sharp reflexes, Shadow dodged the snake's dive and immediately ran away from the monster. He knew with his psychical skills and limited Ka, he didn't stand a chance against a beast like this. The snake hissed disappointedly as it didn't catch its prey. It quickly slithered after the robed man. Shadow continued running away but he took a quick look back, _'This creature…I felt that I faced it before…but where?_'

The robed man had no choice but to follow a different path than he originally took as the snake blocked most of his routes. He noticed a dark hallway and had no choice but to head there in hopes of escaping this monster. He then suddenly remembered, "This creature…It's Dia…" His eyes widened in alert as his foot touched nothing. The dark hallway hid a huge pit in its shadow, letting the robed man fell into it. Losing his balance, Shadow plunged into the bottomless pit, forever lost in that island.

**TBC**

**

* * *

Author's note 2: **This ending felt similar…where have I done it before? Oh yeah, I did it to Kurai, huh? Wasn't that fun? (A loud smack was heard in the background) OUCH! You nearly broke my chin, you cold hearted bastard! (Another smack was heard) Okay, no more insulting, got it. Anyway, I hope you like my idea on the origins of the Dark Items or Shadow Charms as Dub said it since they were never explained in Yugioh GX. I'm sure you can all guess that the next half will have Sara in it.


	34. 18B: Shadow's Discovery! Sara's Story

**Author's note: **Wow, it's been a little while since I updated. I want to say I was busy playing Sengoku Basara 2 but I haven't. I was actually busy writing this chapter because it's filled with lot of events related to GX anime and their plotholes. I explained the plotholes at the end of this chapter. A reviewer of mine made a good point that a reader of this story might only watch the dub instead of sub. I have not seen the dub, so I don't know anything about the English changes because I only watch the sub. So I'll do my best and put a sub/dub glossary in front of each chapter.

Plus, this chapter is seriously long! That's why I took so long to update. I didn't think it would be this long! I had the events planned out but it took so much details! So…I think the ending is crap! I was tired out by the end! Also, I'm not sure I have Fubuki's personality right! I'm ashamed of myself!

Also, lately, I'm not sure if this story is interesting enough for you guys. So I'm feeling kinda low here. If you really enjoy this story, please, seriously, leave a review. It's not hard, you know.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh GX! Credit goes to GX-ST for subs of Yugioh GX Episode 159. (There's a reason why I'm using that episode lol)**

**Sub/Dub Glossary**

Dark Items – Shadow Charms

Fubuki Tenjoin – Attticus Rhodes

Sara – Yasmin

**

* * *

Yugioh GX Ch.018B**

The TV screen showed a black silhouette of a tall young man with long smooth hair. Behind that man was another silhouette except it was much larger and more like a creature instead of human. It was a shadow of a dragon. In the center of that screen was a black mask that resembled a dragon with blue eye pieces and a red gem at the center. Soon, the logo of GX appeared on the bottom right corner.

Rad was staring at the screen with his eyelids blinking up and down as he was confused.

The narrator looked at Rad strangely as he knew he was being weird again. He then asked out of curiosity, "What are you doing?"

Rad answered as he continuing staring at the screen, "It's different."

The narrator didn't understand him and asked again, "What's different?"

Rad looked at the Narrator as he pointed at the screen, "This is different. The eye catch screen! It doesn't show the character and the monster but instead you have some creepy black mask."

The narrator sweat-dropped as he finally realized what Rad meant, "Um well…I can't really show who's dueling in this chapter because it would spoil the story…although the mask is already a spoiler…maybe the previous episode preview is a spoiler too…"

Rad gasped as he realized something, "Ohhh! This must be someone from the original GX anime!" He looked closely at the screen, "Now that I seen it closer, it's…"

The narrator panicked and yelled, "Oh look, it's Tsubaki!" He pointed in the other direction.

"Eh?" Rad immediately averted his head toward the Narrator's direction and ran off, "Hey, Tsubaki!"

Suddenly, there was a loud blood curling scream from the other side.

The narrator sweat-dropped as he watched Rad disappeared to chase after the poor guy, "Sorry, Tsubaki, I can't have him spoil the story yet."

* * *

Shadow felt that he was lying on a ground at least that what was he felt. Just a moment ago, he regained conscious with his eyes still closed. He remembered that he fell into a pit after being chased by a giant gray-skinned snake. He was about to remember what the snake actually was but that memory just fled his mind when he fell. The robed man thought for sure that he would be dead for that long fall but he was still alive and had no injuries except few bruises from landing on the ground roughly.

He then finally opened his eyes just to be surprised. Instead of a dark ruin, he saw that he was outside with the sun shining. He slowly stood up to see that he was standing outside a pyramid surrounded by a forest. He narrowed his eyes as he knew something was wrong, _'This is not the ruin at the island.' _He looked up to see the three suns in the sky, _'In fact, this is not Earth.'_ He then analyzed the surroundings, _'Where am I? What is this place…yet this felt familiar..' _His eyes widened in realization, "Could this be…"

"Halt!" A loud voice alerted the robed man. Shadow quickly looked back to see the owner of the voice. His eyes narrowed as he found himself surrounded by dark-skinned men, dressed in two common clothes and adorned with two different spears. One was average build with black hooded cloak over purple linen shirt and kilt. The other one was larger with round belly showing. He wore a black cloak with red line decorations over a brown kilt.

Shadow immediately recognized the first one as Gravekeeper's Spear Solider and the second one as Gravekeeper's Guard. Seeing them just confirmed his thoughts on this world he was in, _'These are Duel monsters…so I was right…this is the World of Duel Monsters…'_

The spear soldier suddenly held his spear closer as the tip of the blade nearly touched Shadow's face. He ordered, "Those who broke into the Royal Family's graveyard must receive judgment!"

The bulky guard chipped in, "You'll be buried alive in the sarcophagi for your intrusion!"

Shadow narrowed his eyes into a fearsome glare, "You immediately put someone on a death sentence without a chance to redeem themselves? What happened to the right of having an ordeal ceremony?"

The spear solider glared back, "We no longer give that right anymore."

The bulky guard spoke again with deep distaste, "We don't trust humans and their words ever again!"

Shadow was slightly surprised at their responses, _'No ordeal ceremony…did something happened here to make the Gravekeepers abandoned that rule?'_

"Stand down!" A strong voice gave a command. All the Gravekeepers recognized that voice as the one they must obeyed. But something was clearly wrong; they didn't obey that command as they still pointed their spears toward the intruder. Shadow could see hesitance in some Gravekeepers as they were torn between two duties. He then looked up toward the new owner and saw another dark skinned man with trimmed beard but his clothes were different from the rest. The newcomer had a black hood and a white silk cloak with golden lines and black-colored edges over his purple shirt and green pants.

Familiar with Duel monsters, Shadow knew that this man was the leader, the Gravekeeper's Chief. The chief clenched his fist in rage over his people's insubordinate, "You won't listen to my command?" He unclenched his fist and held it forward, "I said stand down!" The Gravekeepers finally obeyed their leader's orders and withheld their spears back away from Shadow, "Did you not see who you pointed your spears to? You dared raise your weapons against the legendary Millennium priest?"

The guards were shocked to hear that the intruder was one of the legendary guardians that summoned many of their denizens in the sacred game. They quickly kneeled on their knee and bowed their head in respect and shame. They were ashamed that they failed to recognize the human as the sacred priest. Shadow stared at the Gravekeeper's Chief as he was stunned that this leader had recognized his power as the Millennium Priest, "So you knew who I am without my Millennium Item?"

The chief bowed too in respect, "My lord, even if you change your form many times, we can still sense the power of the Millennium Item within your soul no matter how small it is." He bowed deeper, "Allow me to apologize for my people's behaviors as they failed to recognize your power."

Shadow closed his eyes as he didn't mind what they did, "I had no reason to hold grudges for ones who are only doing their duties."

"Thank you, my lord." The chief stood up and asked, "May I ask, what bring you here from your world?"

"You could say it was an accident," Shadow replied and then looked upward toward the three suns, "or…it could be guidance of fate that brought me here."

"Guidance of fate?" The chief questioned.

Shadow averted his eyes away from the suns to the chief, "A strange event occurred in my world and it could have something to do with the Dark Items."

The chief's eyes increased in shock as Shadow mentioned the Dark Items. The chief's eyes then wavered in guilt as he looked down in shame, "I would not be surprised that the strange event in your realm would have something to do with the Dark Items."

Shadow narrowed his eyes as he listened closely.

The chief looked up to Shadow, "It shamed me to tell you…that the Dark Items were stolen."

"Stolen?" Shadow was surprised to hear it and he demanded an explanation, "Tell me the details."

* * *

Deep inside the pyramid, the Gravekeeper's chief was guiding Shadow down the stone stairs as he was leading the priest deeper into the tomb. As they walked downward, the chief told his story, "It only happened few moons ago when suddenly, many humans dressed in strange white and blue cloak jacket from your world arrived in the tomb before you, my lord. They had no special powers and they claimed their teacher was involved but there were no signs of that so-called teacher in the tomb."

Shadow was surprised to hear that. It was impossible for a mere human to travel to another world in another dimension unless this teacher had incredible power to send the students here. He asked, "Did they mention where they were from?"

"They said from Duel Academia, a special school from duelists," The chief answered and continued, "When they arrived out of nowhere, they seemed lost and confused as they were mere children without a mother but we, Gravekeepers, must follow the rules of the Royal Tomb."

Shadow asked again, "So you gave them a chance to partake the Ordeal Ceremony?"

The chief nodded, "That is our honorable rule. We allow them a chance to be free from our death sentence."

Shadow countered, "Your people said they no longer have that rule."

The chief swayed his head, "My people were angry at themselves for not protecting the sacred items that you Millennium priests had entrusted to us. Ever since the Dark Items were taken away, my people showed no mercy to intruders anymore and buried them alive in the sarcophagi. I don't blame them for I am furious at myself too. We had let our guard down with the rule of Ordeal Ceremony and we suddenly lost the ones we were supposed to guard for countless moons."

Shadow asked, "I take it that the missing Dark Items have something to do with the case of the humans from Duel Academia."

The chief nodded slowly as they reached the bottom of the stairs. They stood in front of a large stone door. He replied, "One by one, the humans lost the ordeal ceremony with me until the last one."

Shadow repeated, "The last one?"

The chief opened the stone door to reveal a large room filled with grand treasures of gold and jewelry and magnificent statues that stood all the way from the floor to the ceiling. The room was brightly lit by torches that were perched on the walls. Although all those treasures were quite sight, there was something else that stood out more than the treasures. There were many small column pedestals made of pure gold. Each pedestals held an Egyptian treasure box that were opened, revealing red satin layer and empty spaces. Shadow could immediately tell that these boxes must have held the Dark Items.

"Sara!" The chief called out someone's name and right on cue, suddenly, someone jumped in from above and landed near the chief. It was a woman with the same colored skin as her fellow Gravekeepers. She also wore the black Gravekeeper's cloak that covered her entire body with her hood down, revealing her dark medium length hair tied up in a ponytail. She also wore an interesting golden headband with golden claws on the sides and green oval-shaped earrings. The chief motioned his hand toward Sara, "This is Sara, the Gravekeeper's Assailant…she will give you the details about the last human who faced me."

Sara bowed respectfully, "It's a great honor to meet you, Millennium Priest."

Shadow glanced at her, his solemn eyes urging her to speak, "So what happened here?"

Sara looked up and began to tell her story.

* * *

It was only couple of months ago that all of the sudden, there was a bright shining flash in front of the royal tomb. It was a strange sight but what happened afterward was even stranger. Out of thin air, there were group of young men and women lying on the floor unconscious, all of them dressed in white and blue uniforms. When the Gravekeepers saw them, their first immediate thought of the newcomers was that they were intruders and they should be detained right away. It was a rule that they must followed.

Another rule that the Gravekeepers followed is that they gave the intruders a chance to take an ordeal ceremony to win their freedom or get a harsher death sentence.

Sara was walking down the hallway, holding a tray filled with plates of simple foods. She then heard screams coming from the outside the tomb. It was the screams of a duelist in extreme pain from the ordeal ceremony commencing outside. Sara, being an assassin, couldn't help but scoffed. The humans claimed had claimed to be duelists, the very top, they said because they are "Obelisk Blue." But when they undergoes the ordeal ceremony with the Gravekeeper's Chief, it seemed like they never been in pain before. How could they be duelists if they never suffered damages from a fight? She continued strolling down the hallway as she ignored more screams and random explosions coming from outside.

At the end of a hallway, Sara arrived at prison guarded by the Gravekeeper's Guards. She greeted them as they allowed her to enter the prison. Sara walked further in to see the Obelisk Blue students in various positions of despair. One student was clenching his head as he kept telling himself that this was all a dream. Another student just wailed as he already gave up and claimed they were all going to die. It was a saddening sight but Sara couldn't help but notice a certain young man.

This particular young man was incredibly handsome with long smooth brown hair that reached beyond his neck. He was sitting on the ground, hugging his knees with his face downward. Sara noticed that he was different from the others. She noticed that this young man wasn't looking down out of despair but of guilt as he did a horrible crime.

Sara placed the tray down on the ground. She looked at the brown haired man again, _'I wonder what he did that made him look like that?' _She then walked away. The spear soldiers walked past her and tossed a wounded student to the floor. Sara looked back, _'Another one who failed the ordeal ceremony. At this rate, if no one can beat the chief, I have to carve their livers out soon.'_

* * *

Sara closed her eyes as she still told her story to Shadow, "For days, I continued serving the prisoners their food. It was the same routine and nothing has changed…until…" She opened her eyes, "That man spoke to me."

* * *

"Hey, what's your name?" He asked.

Sara was slightly surprised to hear his voice. She looked up from the tray she set down to see the young man staring at her. She didn't expect him to talk to her since students wouldn't want to talk to the one who would execute them.

The young man gave a small smile, "Oh sorry, I should introduce myself first. I'm Tenjoin Fubuki. Can you tell me yours?"

"…Sara…" The female assassin answered.

"Sara?" Fubuki repeated her name. He smiled gently, "That's a cute name. It's fitting for a beautiful woman like you."

Sara suddenly blushed. She never received compliment before, so it was her first time hearing such thing. She stuttered, "D-d-don't think that by flattering me, I would help you get out."

Fubuki blinked in slight confusion. He chuckled softly, "That wasn't my intention. I just wanted to talk to you."

Sara was silent for a moment. She couldn't help but asked, "Why?"

"I couldn't help but be curious about you." Fubuki answered, "After all you have been staring at me for awhile."

Sara was stunned, "You knew?" She didn't expect him to notice her because his face was always on his knees.

"Yeah…" Fubuki chuckled nervously, "I don't mean to be arrogant but I do know when a girl admires me. It's all part of my irresistible charm."

Sara looked at him as she couldn't tell that he was joking or being arrogant about his looks. She scoffed as she looked away, "I wasn't admiring you." She began to walk away.

"Then…why were you staring at me?" Fubuki asked.

Sara stopped walking. She looked back at him, "I was just wondering why you looked so guilty."

Fubuki's eyes widened in surprise and then wavered. He smiled sadly, "Heh, you noticed that, huh?" He looked at Sara with gentle eyes, "You were concerned about me, weren't you? Thank you."

Sara felt blood rushing to her cheeks as Fubuki's beautiful eyes gazed on her. She also felt embarrassed because no one ever thanked her. Who would want to thank a killer? She looked away coldly, "Who said I'm concerned for you? You're just an intruder."

Fubuki laughed out loud.

Sara looked at him strangely and frowned, "You laughed at me?"

Fubuki rubbed his eyes and apologized, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh…it's just that…just now your behavior reminded me so much of my precious sister." He smiled, "How she tended not to be honest with her feelings."

Sara didn't answer. All she could do was just stared at this certain man.

* * *

Shadow was standing inside the prison. Sara had led him here while telling her story about Fubuki. The priest turned his head toward her, "What happened next?"

Sara looked down as she was unsure of herself. She then spoke, "I should be ashamed of myself. I associated with an intruder but I couldn't help myself…every chance I get to see him, I talked with him and he would tell me wonderful stories about his world, his school, and his family. I craved to know more about this man…how silly of me…I'm an assassin yet I grew fond of him…but…it was then till that fateful duel, the man suddenly changed before my eyes."

* * *

At top of the pyramid, there was a large rectangular pit where the tombs were buried and stood as the dueling grounds for the ordeal ceremony. At top of the large pit were two thick stone platforms on the opposite sides facing each other. Standing on one platform was Fubuki and standing on the other platform was the Gravekeeper's Chief.

The chief wore a dark gray duel disks with golden stripes spiraled around like a shell. He smirked as he was fresh and confident from all his victories against the so-called top Obelisk Blue Duelists, "You're the last one, boy. If you lose to me, you and all of your friends will have be buried here as mummies."

Fubuki narrowed his eyes into a serious glare, "If I win, then you'll let us all go. Is that right?"

The chief nodded, "That's right but so far, no one had won against me or handled the pains of the dark duel."

"The dark duel?" Fubuki asked and then he remembered all those injuries that his fellow classmates suffered. He clenched his fist and declared, "Bring it then. I'll take on the dark duel or whatever you called it because I swore on my title, the Blizzard Prince, that I will free everyone."

The chief chuckled as he was impressed, "You talked big for a mere human. Let's see if your resolve can last you through the dark duel."

Sara suddenly appeared behind the chief on her knee, "Osa."

The chief looked back, "What is it? I told anyone not to interfere with ordeal ceremony."

Sara bowed, "I know, osa. I had no desire of interfering. I just wish…to witness the ceremony if you allow me."

"You wish to witness the ceremony?" The chief stared down at Sara. He knew the assassin for a long time and never before, she made such a strange request. But for awhile, he had heard from the others that Sara had been spending time with this duelist he was facing. He questioned, "You wish to watch in hopes that he would win against me, do you?"

Sara suddenly looked up to the chief in surprise, "N-no, I…"

"Abandon those foolish feelings!" The chief ordered, "You're the Gravekeeper's Assailant. You took many lives without mercy. You don't need such burdensome emotions. Watch this duel as I'll send this man you're fond of to his death. As you watch him lose, make sure that those feelings will go along with it!"

Sara couldn't answer back. She knew the chief was right. She was an assassin and an assassin did not need feelings. She looked down and confirmed, "Yes, I'll do that…osa…"

"Sara!" Fubuki yelled her name.

Sara immediately looked up toward the other side where Fubuki was standing.

"Thanks for your concern but don't worry about me." Fubuki suddenly pointed upward, "What did your eyes see?"

Sara blinked, "The sky?"

The chief blinked too in confusion, "The heavens (ten)?"

Fubuki suddenly turned around while shaking his hips. He turned back and gave a thumb up with a bright handsome smile, "Join!"

**Author's note: **Those who didn't watch the sub. Fubuki asked the characters what did they see upward? One of them said heaven which is "Ten" In Japanese. So Fubuki responded with his um…weird pose…and finished it with "Join!" Which put together is Tenjoin which was his surname.

There was a long eerie silence as the winds blew heavily and the crickets were chirping.

Fubuki had a tiny sweat droplet on his forehead and he chuckled nervously as he scratched his cheek, "Um…not good?"

The chief just stared at Fubuki as he couldn't believe that he did something so embarrassing and stupid. He clenched his fist, "Are you trying to humiliate the chief of the Gravekeepers?" He glared with angry aura around him.

Fubuki had a bigger sweat droplet as he whimpered from the chief's anger. He laughed nervously again, "I guess that didn't work so well here as my world." He activated his Duel Academy duel disk, "Duel!"

The chief's duel disk magically created an arm blade attached to it. He then announced, "Open Ceremony! I'll take the first turn. Draw!" He drew the sixth card and grabbed one card from his Hand, "I place one monster face down in defense mode." A horizontal card appeared face down on the monster Field, "Turn end."

"Draw!" Fubuki drew his card and noticed he drew a strong attacker card, _'Now it's not the time to use it…luckily, I have this card.' _He chose one card and placed it horizontally face-down, "I also place one monster face down in defense mode and I will set two cards face down," A monster card appeared face-down in front of Fubuki along with two face down cards behind the monster card, "Turn end."

The chief smirked, "Decided not to take the offensive? Whatever happened to all that courage you possessed awhile ago?"

Fubuki chuckled, "It's still not lost if that's what you're worried about but I should be spending more time worrying about myself."

The chief scoffed, "Cocky boy. Draw!" The older man drew his card, "I flip-summon Gravekeeper's Spy!" [**M1 (4/1200/2000)**] The face-down card disappeared as a dark-skinned woman materialized to the field. She was dressed in her traditional dark colored Gravekeeper's cloak with green lines. She wore black turban over her medium dark hair tied into a thin ponytail, "Due to her reverse effect, I can special summon another Gravekeeper's monster with 1500 ATK or lower from my deck. I special summon Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier [**M2 (4/1500/1000)**] in Attack Mode!" The spy put fingers in her mouth and whistled for help. Immediately, another warrior with a spear was summoned to the field. It was a man in his Gravekeeper's cloak over purple shirt and skirt. The chief grabbed one card from his Hand and placed it vertically on the monster slot, "Finally, I summon Gravekeeper's Priestess!" [**M3 (3/1000/1500)**] A bright light gathered on the field and formed a beautiful woman. Instead of being dressed in dark cloak like other Gravekeepers, she stood out in her pure white priestess robe with golden metallic belt and collar over her gray-scaled sleeveless shirt held by red triangular jewel necklace around her neck. She also wore a long white headdress with the head decoration of Wdjat's eye and golden flaps on the side. She had long hair tied into braids with golden hair ends and wielded a long golden staff with a cobra's head on top of it.

Fubuki whistled as he smiled, "That's quite a beautiful lass you have there." The Priestess had a slight blush on her cheeks as she looked away.

"Ahem…" The chief cleared his throat, "would you mind refraining yourself from fraternizing with our opposite gender?"

Fubuki chuckled again as he rubbed the back of his head, "I couldn't help it, it's in my nature…heh. Heh. Heh…EEEEEH!" He suddenly freaked out when he saw Sara's intensified glare directly at Fubuki.

"Hmph." Sara closed her eyes and turned her head away.

Fubuki had a sweat droplet on the side of his head, "I guess I did something wrong?"

"We're in the middle of the duel and it's still my turn!" The chief declared, "When Gravekeeper's Priestess is on the Field, the entire field counted as Necrovalley!" The priestess chanted as she held her golden staff vertically above her. The blue eyes of the cobra's head suddenly flashed brightly and the entire stage was replaced by tall dark stone canyons with strange scary formations and arches above them. The duelists' planks were replaced by tall stone towers with flat plateaus.

Fubuki looked around as he astounded, "A monster with an effect of Field card?" He narrowed his eyes, "You don't really see that sort of effect except with Maiden of Aqua."

The chief smirked, "Because Necrovalley is on the Field, all my Gravekeeper's monsters gain 500 ATK and DEF!"

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 1200/2000 + 500/500 = 1700/2500**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier: 1500/1000 + 500/500 = 2000/1500**

**Gravekeeper's Priestess: 1000/1500 + 500/500 = 1500/2000**

The chief continued explaining, "Also, Necrovalley prevents the cards in our Graveyard from being removed. Monsters, Spells, and Traps won't affect cards in the Graveyard too."

Fubuki smirked nervously, "So revival cards won't work, huh? She's a pretty scary gal."

The chief chuckled, "And she can still do much more. She can give all Gravekeeper's monster a 200 ATK and DEF increase!" The priestess twirled her staff as she chanted a different spell. She held the staff in position as her comrades and she were basked in blue light.

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 1700/2500 + 200/200 = 1900/2700**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier: 2000/1500 + 200/200 = 2200/1700**

**Gravekeeper's Priestess: 1500/2000 + 200/200 = 1700/2200**

Fubuki cringed, "Ehhh, that's a really scary card there." The priestess smiled with confidence.

The chief spoke arrogantly, "You made a foolish mistake, human. You think you can defend your life with your defense monster?" He looked at his Spear Soldier, "That won't work with him. When Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier attack a monster in DEF and his ATK is higher than the monster's DEF, I can still do damage!"

Fubuki looked nervous, "That doesn't look good."

"With damage conducted by Spear Soldier and two direct attacks by other Gravekeeper's, it's the end for you!" The chief ordered, "Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier, Instant Slice Defeat!" The spear soldier dashed forward and pierced Fubuki's facedown card with a sharp thrust, "Now you'll receive damage!" The leader's eyes widened in shock as Fubuki's Life Points have not decreased, "What? What happened here?"

The face-down card revealed to be a small snow white partridge with black legs. It had violet circles around its eyes and wore a beautiful ice blue helmet with snowflake symbol on it. Wrapped around one of its legs was a neatly tied white ribbon with golden edges. Fubuki smiled, "You attacked Snow Partridge of Yalda! [**M4 (2/500/300)**] Any battle damage involved with this card is zero." The spear soldier's spear pierced the ground while the partridge just glanced around carelessly as it was ignoring the threat in front of it, "And that's not all it did. When my Snow Partridge is destroyed as result of battle, I can activate a special field card from my deck."

The chief's eyes widened in shock when he heard that, "That means…"

Fubuki nodded, "Say goodbye to Necrovalley!" The partridge flapped its wings and soared into the sky with its ribbon dangling in the wind. When the partridge disappeared, snow started falling, "And hello to a winter wonderland, Frozen Tundra!" [**S1**] Fubuki grabbed the card from the deck and inserted the card into the Field slot of his duel disk. Suddenly, the field rumbled as the stone canyons shattered away with chunks of rocks vanishing as they reached the bottom. Eventually, the entire canyon was replaced by a scenic field of white snow blowing strongly in the wind. Surrounding the field were thick forest completely covered in snow. Fubuki shuddered slightly as he hugged himself, "Brrrr…cold!" He breathed warm air into his hands, _'I didn't expect the weather to be so real…is this supposed to be the Shadow game?'_

The chief held his arm above his head to endure the cold winds, "What? What is this field?"

Fubuki answered, "I'll get to that in a moment. But first, your Gravekeepers lost their 500 stat boosts!"

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 1900/2700 – 500/500 = 1400/2200**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier: 2200/1700 – 500/500 = 1700/1200**

**Gravekeeper's Priestess: 1700/2200 – 500/500 = 1200/1700**

The leader countered, "Even so, you're still open for direct attacks!"

Fubuki retorted, "Not unless I activate this face-down card, Winter's Den!" [**T1] **His face-down card flipped up, revealing a picture of a dark burrow in the middle of snow ground and surrounded by various kinds of plants and rocks blanketed by snow. Inside the dark burrow were set of glowing eyes, "This card activates when my monster was destroyed as result of battle and I can special summon one Lv. 4 or lower Water Beast or Beast Warrior from my Hand or Deck. Since you sent my lovely partridge to the grave, I'll summon another cute creature, Lucky Snowshoe Rabbit!" [**M5 (3/900/1000)**] His trap card flashed as a cute white rabbit popped out of the card onto the Field. It was an adorable rabbit with black furred ears. It wore a small silver helmet around its head and a thick silver collared necklace with blue diamond, "I'll put this little guy in defense and also, when this trap card activates when Frozen Tundra on the Field, I can place 1 Snow Counter on each of your face-up monster." Immediately right after Fubuki's explanation, there was a strong blizzard that nearly blew the Gravekeepers away while the rabbit simply burrowed itself into the ground for protection. When the blizzard stopped, there was a small pile of snow gathered atop of each Gravekeepers who were shivering under the extreme cold weather. Fubuki grinned, "And now we activate Frozen Tundra's effect. For each Snow Counter, your monster loses 100 ATK."

"What?" The chief was surprised and he looked at his people as their strength dwindled under the cold.

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 1400/2200 – 100/0 = 1300/2200**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier: 1700/1200 – 100/0 = 1600/1200**

**Gravekeeper's Priestess: 1200/1700 – 100/0 = 1100/1700**

Fubuki grinned more, "Also, during each of our Standby Phase and End Phase, the Field card add 1 more Snow Counter. That is the power of the extreme weather of tundra."

The chief gritted his teeth, "I'm starting to see why you're called the Blizzard Prince."

Fubuki smiled, "Why, thank you."

"But I'll still continue with my attack!" The chief gave orders, "Gravekeeper's Priestess! Attack that creature with Divine Punishment!" The priestess chanted quickly as she held her rod toward the rabbit. The cobra's eyes flashed as it shot out blue lightning bolts that shocked the poor furry rabbit into bits.

Fubuki quickly countered, "When Lucky Snowshoe Rabbit is destroyed as result of battle, I can special summon 2 more Lucky Snowshoe Rabbits!" Two adorable rabbits hopped to the Field and crouched in defensive positions.

"Then, I'll destroy another one!" The old man continued his assault, "Gravekeeper's Spy! Destroy that rabbit with Throwing Knives!" The female spy suddenly took out hidden knives under her cloak and held them between her fingers. She then tossed them expertly at the rabbit, skewering the creature into bits, "I set two cards face down," Two cards appeared on the Field, "Turn end!" As soon as the chief ended his turn, there was another blizzard. The lone rabbit quickly burrowed underground and the Gravekeepers moaned as they braced against the raging snowstorm. The storm was over and there were more snow piling on the Gravekeepers and they were struggling to hold themselves up.

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 1300/2200 – 100/0 = 1200/2200**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier: 1600/1200 – 100/0 = 1500/1200**

**Gravekeeper's Priestess: 1100/1700 – 100/0 = 1000/1700**

The chief noticed Fubuki's third rabbit's strength didn't decrease and asked, "Why is your monster unaffected by your Field card?"

Fubuki explained, "About that, Frozen Tundra puts Snow Counter on all monsters except WATER Beast, Beast-Warrior, and Winged Beast."

The chief just scowled in response.

Fubuki declared, "Now that you end your turn, my Lucky Snowshoe Rabbit's effect activates! At the End phase of the turn that the rabbit was destroyed in battle, I gain 200 Life Points for each Snow Counters on the Field. So there's six Snow Counters, I gain 1200 Life Points. Also, I have another Lucky Snowshoe Rabbit in the Graveyard, so…" Fubuki held up two fingers, "That's 1200 Life Points times two!"

**Fubuki: 4000 + 2400 = 6400. Gravekeeper's Chief: 4000.**

The Blizzard Prince pressed his second S/T button, "I also activate my other face-down card, Winterfeast!" [**T2] **His second face-down card had picture of a bright white sky with snowflakes falling. Among the snowflakes were round blue furry creatures with round eyes and little antennae, "During my standby phase, as long as I have Frozen Tundra on field, I can special summon one Snowfluff Token in attack mode but unfortunately, I can't use those token for tribute-summoning."

"Then what's the point of having them?" The chief demanded.

Fubuki just grinned, "You'll see. Draw!" He drew his card and right on cue, there was another blizzard blowing and more snow piling on the shivering Gravekeepers.

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 1200/2200 – 100/0 = 1100/2200**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier: 1500/1200 – 100/0 = 1400/1200**

**Gravekeeper's Priestess: 1000/1700 – 100/0 = 900/1700**

Right after the blizzard, a small round furry creature popped out of the snow. [**Snowfluff Token/Beast/1/500/500**] The duelist grabbed one card from his Hand and placed it face up on the monster slot, "I summon Snow Panther Warrior!" [**M6 (4/2300/1700)**] A humanoid panther with ice blue colored fur came into existence. It wore a midnight blue chest plate with silver edges and blue decorative orbs. It also wore a lion cloth of the same colors and a snow white cape on its back. It wielded a saber with silver handle decorated with blue gems and a midnight blue shield with silver edges and blue gems too.

The chief was stunned by the monster's strength, "A Lv. 4 monster with 2300 ATK?"

"That's right," Fubuki grinned, "This is the snow version of Panther Warrior and just like Panther Warrior, it needs a tribute to attack."

"A tribute?" The chief realized, "That token!"

"Correct!" Fubuki gestured at his Snowfluff token, "I sacrifice this token," The snowball made a soft squealing sound as it vanished. Fubuki gestured at his Panther Warrior, "to allow Snow Panther Warrior to attack Gravekeeper's Priestess! Blizzard Slash!" His ice-blue furred panther warrior pounced toward the priestess with his saber held high. The priestess gasped as she tried to hold the rod up in defense but the snow on her were too heavy. The panther warrior brought his saber down in a clean slash that sliced the rod and the headdress in half. The priestess screamed as she dissolved.

**Fubuki: 6400. Gravekeeper's Chief: 4000 – 1400 = 2600.**

Fubuki smirked with pride in himself, "Since I destroyed Gravekeeper's Priestess. Your monsters lose their power increase."

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 1100/2200 – 200/200 = 900/2000**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier: 1400/1200 – 200/200 = 1200/1000**

The duelist finished, "Turn end." Another blizzard came storming in and piled more snow on the remaining Gravekeepers who were nearly buried in snow. In Fubuki's side, the rabbit retreated underground while the snow panther merely braced the blizzard with its shield.

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 900/2000 – 100/0 = 800/2000**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier: 1200/1000 – 100/0 = 1100/1000**

Sara couldn't help but be amazed as she watched this entire time. Her leader had not harm a single hair on this young man. Instead, the young duelist managed to counter the chief's swarm with his own deadly combos. Sara thought to herself, _'Maybe…this man had chance of winning after all…'_

The chief could only scowl as he watched his comrades getting weakened by the weather, "Draw!" He drew his card and already, another blizzard came on its way, showing how extreme the weather is in the tundra.

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 800/2000 – 100/0 = 700/2000**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier: 1100/1000 = 1000/1000**

The chief knew his people could not stand against the Panther warrior, in fact, not even a rabbit, "I put both of them in defense positions." Both spy and spear soldier kneeled on their knee and braced themselves, "I also set one monster face down!" A horizontal card appeared next to the Gravekeepers, "Turn end!" Cold gales blew across the field, weakening the Gravekeepers even more.

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 700/2000 – 100/0 = 600/2000**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier: 1000/1000 – 100/0 = 900/1000**

"Going on the defensive now? Whatever happened to your confidence?" Fubuki joked.

The chief narrowed his eyes, "Hmph, this duel is not over yet."

Fubuki glanced at the chief's trap cards, _'He hasn't activate them yet…but I won't hesitate…I'll get us all out of here and back to Duel Academy…and then…I'll find him!' _He grabbed the top card, "Draw!" More cold winds gathered on the field, putting more snow on the Gravekeepers. At the same time, a Snowfluff Token popped out to the field.

**Gravekeeper's Spy: 600/2000 – 100/0 = 500/2000**

**Gravekeeper's Spear Solider: 900/1000 – 100/0 = 800/1000**

Fubuki switched his horizontal card vertically, "I switch Lucky Snowshoe Rabbit into Attack Mode," The white rabbit went into its normal position, "I then summon Snow Leopard Warrior!" [**M7 (4/1800/1500)**] A light gray-furred spotted leopard warrior jumped to the field. It was nearly tall as Snow Panther Warrior and thinner with its average build. It wore a black-colored breastplate with teal lines. It also wore a sole shoulder pad and lion cloth with the same colors as its armor, "Lucky Snowshow Rabbit! Attack the spy with Snow Roller!"

The chief argued, "You attack a monster with higher DEF?"

Fubuki announced, "Frozen Tundra has a second effect! When my monster attacks a monster with Snow Counter, I can change that monster's position!"

"What!" The chief shouted. The spy was forced to stand up from her defensive position. The snow rabbit leaped high into the sky and suddenly spun itself rapidly into a ball that slammed the female spy to the snow, smashing her into smithereens.

**Fubuki: 6400. Gravekeeper's Chief: 2600 – 400 = 2200.**

Fubuki ordered again, "I tribute my Snowfluff Token to allow my Snow Panther Warrior to attack the spear soldier! Blizzard Slash!" The panther warrior roared out loud as he pounced toward his target. The spear soldier groaned as he was forced into offensive pose. The spear soldier could only give a weak thrust toward the beast warrior but his spear was sliced in half along with his body from the panther's deadly swipe.

**Fubuki: 6400. Gravekeeper's Chief: 2200 – 1500 = 700.**

"Finally, Snow Leopard Warrior! Attack that face-down card with White Razor Claw!" The leopard dashed across the field in incredible speed. It raised both of its claws and slashed the face-down card from right and left. The slashed card revealed the Gravekeeper's Guard, [**M8 (4/1000/1900)**] a bulky Gravekeeper, being sliced into pieces that shattered away.

The chief asked immediately, "What just happened here?" He couldn't believe that a monster with weaker ATK could destroy his monster with stronger DEF.

Fubuki explained, "My Snow Leopard Warrior has an effect that allows him to destroy any monster in defense mode and negates any flip effects." He smiled greatly as he had the advantage over his opponent, "Turn end." Finally, the blizzard stopped blowing as there were no monsters to weaken.

"Draw!" The chief drew his card and he glanced at it. He smirked, "I'll give some respect, boy. None of your comrades had never taken this much Life Points and still keep their without any harm. You're a very lucky boy because you have not feel the pain of a shadow game but your luck ends here now. I activate Gravekeeper's Commandant's [**M9 (4/1600/1500)**] effect!" A transparent form of a muscular man showed up behind the chief. He was dressed in his traditional Gravekeeper's cloak with blue lines over his golden chest armor. He also wore a blue belt over red leather lion cloth and beige skirt. He had an Anubis mask with blue and red flaps and blue scarf around his neck, "By discarding this card from my hand, I can add Necrovalley from my deck to my Hand!"

Fubuki's eyes widened as he knew what would happen next.

The commandant took out a golden staff as he used his magic to pull a certain card forward from the chief's deck. The chief grabbed it and looked back at the commandant, "Excellent work." The commandant nodded as he dissolved after completing his duty. The chief played the card he grabbed right away, "I then bring back the tomb where the Royal Family sleeps, the Necrovalley!" [**S2]** Stone walls immediately arose from the snowy fields, letting the snow and the pine trees fell off and disappeared. Soon, what was once a snowy landscape was now replaced by familiar canyons with frightening stone formations atop them, "Next, I play Graceful Charity! [**S3] **A common card that all of your friends used." A beautiful angel materialized behind the chief and allowed his duel disk to glow white, "I drew three cards and discard two!" He drew the top three and chose two to be sent to the Graveyard. The angel vanished afterward, "I now activate my trap card, Rite of Spirit!" [**T3] **His face-down card finally revealed itself with a picture of three Gravekeepers worshipping a cobra deity, "This trap card allows me to special summon one Gravekeeper from the Graveyard."

Fubuki retorted, "But Necrovalley negates any cards that affect the Graveyard."

The chief regained his smirk, "True but this trap card is unaffected by Necrovalley! I revive Gravekeeper's Curse!" [**M10 (3/800/800)**] His trap card vanished as a mid-aged man appeared with his Gravekeeper's cloak decorated with purple lines. He wore red shirt with golden belt over his black robe. He also had dreadlocks around his head and golden jewelry dangling around his neck. He wielded a yellow and blue striped cane.

Fubuki narrowed his eyes, _'When did he have Gravekeeper's Curse in the Graveyard?...Unless he discarded it with Graceful Charity!'_

The chief continued, "When Gravekeeper's Curse is special summoned, I can cause 500 damage to you. Weakening Spell!" The sorcerer chanted as he held his cane in front of him.

Fubuki winced as green light consumed his body. He groaned as his mind was heavily assaulted. He panted after the spell was over, _'Is…this the shadow game? This…is the pain that everyone felt…'_

**Fubuki: 6400 – 500 = 5900. Gravekeeper's Chief: 700.**

The chief chuckled, "I'm not done yet, boy. This is just the beginning. I sacrifice Gravekeeper's Curse to summon myself!" [**M11 (5/1900/1200)**] The sorcerer dissolved into golden light as the chief was consumed by the same golden light. He then reappeared on the Field, facing his opponent closer than before.

Sara's eyes widened, _'I never seen Osa head into battle himself in such a long time…and when he does…he's completely sure to win!'_

The chief laughed, "I have to say it again, boy. I'm impressed with your dueling skills. None of your friends had ever faced me directly on the Field until now. You should be greatly honored."

Fubuki frowned, "I'll feel honored when everyone and I'm still alive."

The chief smirked, "Sadly, this is the end of the line for you. My effect activates when I'm summoned with a tribute. I can special summon a fellow Gravekeeper from my Graveyard. I special summon Gravekeeper's Descendant!" [**M12 (4/1500/1200)**] A young blonde dark-skinned man was summoned. He stood up from other Gravekeepers with his custom dark jacket with white edges over his black shirt with golden edges and red, green, and blue collar. He wore a blue belt with golden wings imprint over a golden loincloth and black robe skirt with white lines. He wore a black headband and held the same golden rod as the commandant and priestess, "Also as long as I'm here, the Necrovalley does not affect my Graveyard. I then activate my last face-down card, Wrath of the Royal Family!" [**T4] **His last face-down card contained a picture of the Sphinx atop of the royal tomb was set ablaze. In front of the burning tomb was the Gravekeeper's Chief in his burned clothes shouting his last orders to random Gravekeepers that were charging in their burned cloaks, "This card can only activates when I'm on the Field. I can special summon many Gravekeepers as I want from my Graveyard!"

"What!" Fubuki didn't expect this powerful counterattack.

The chief explained, "There is a drawback, of course. At the end of my turn, the Gravekeepers that were special summoned and I will be destroyed but that's all we need! Come forth Gravekeeper's Curse!" A familiar sorcerer appeared again with his evil chuckle, "Gravekeeper's Priestess!" A woman dressed in white robe came out again with a gentle smile on her face, "and finally, Gravekeeper's Commandant!" A man with Anubis' mask jumped high and landed on the Field with grace. He stood up with his arms crossed while holding his staff, "Now, all five of us received 500 ATK and DEF boost from Necrovalley along with additional 200 ATK and DEF boost from the Priestess!"

**Gravekeeper's Curse: 800/800 + 500/500 + 200/200 = 1500/1500**

**Gravekeeper's Descendant: 1500/1200 + 500/500 + 200/200 = 2200/1900**

**Gravekeeper's Chief: 1900/1200 + 500/500 + 200/200 = 2600/1900**

**Gravekeeper's Commandant: 1600/1500 + 500/500 + 200/200 = 2300/2200**

**Gravekeeper's Priestess: 1000/1500 + 500/500 + 200/200 = 1700/2200**

There were five Gravekeepers on the Field all receiving spiritual support from the Necrovalley. Sara couldn't help but gasped as she admired this rare sight. Never before, she saw all five Gravekeepers united on the Field. Her admiration immediately changed to concern for Fubuki. She looked worriedly at Fubuki who was gritting his teeth as he knew the situation was bad.

The chief gestured to his sorcerer, "If you remember recently, when Gravekeeper's Curse was special summoned, I can inflict 500 damage. Weakening Spell!" The sorcerer chanted again as Fubuki was again covered in green light. The Obelisk Blue duelist screamed as the pain became unbearable for his mind.

Sara gasped as her eyes wavered with deep regrets. She wanted to save him but she couldn't refuse her chief's orders.

**Fubuki: 5900 – 500 = 5400. Gravekeeper's Chief: 700.**

The chief continued his attacks, "I'm aware of your rabbit's recovery effect. So I activate Gravekeeper's Descendant's effect! By sacrificing a Gravekeeper, I can destroy one of your cards. I sacrifice Gravekeeper's Curse to destroy your lucky rabbit! Spell of Elimination!" The blonde sorcerer pointed his golden staff toward the older sorcerer. He chanted a quick spell as the sorcerer dissolved into energy that was absorbed into the staff. He then aimed his staff toward the rabbit and fired a white lightning that shocked the rabbit into nothingness, "Now, I'll begin the assault! I'll start first by destroy Snow Panther Warrior! The Royal Family's Judgment!" He stretched his palm toward the panther warrior and obliterated him with red bolts.

**Fubuki: 5400 – 300 = 5100. Gravekeeper's Chief: 700.**

"Gravekeeper's Commandant! Destroy Snow Leopard Warrior with Anubis's Golden Fang!" The commandant soared across the pits of the Necrovalley. He suddenly swung his staff like a sword and sliced the Snow Leopard Warrior in half. The beast warrior's remains shattered away.

**Fubuki: 5100 – 500 = 4600. Gravekeeper's Chief: 700.**

"Gravekeeper's Descendant! Gravekeeper's Priestess! Attack him directly! Ancestor's Rage! Divine Punishment!" Both spellcasters aimed their cobra staffs toward Fubuki. One cobra's eyes glowed black and the other one glowed blue. Both of them fired black and blue lightning bolts that struck Fubuki and shocked him greatly. Fubuki screamed out loud as his body was shocked all over the place. Sara immediately looked away with her eyes closed as she couldn't bear to watch him suffer. She bit her lips as it pained her to hear him screaming. The screaming finally stopped and Sara quickly looked at Fubuki. He was barely standing and his uniform was giving away smoke from the aftershock.

**Fubuki: 4600 – 3900 = 700. Gravekeeper's Chief: 700.**

The chief still continued his actions, "Our life points are now equal, boy, but not for long…" He played a card from his hand, "I play Blessings of the Royal Family!" [**S4] **His magic card was revealed with a picture of the gravekeepers bowing in front of the Sphinx atop the royal tomb. The sphinx was glowing bright golden as it was radiating a warm glow that blessed its faithful guards, "Since we're going to our graves, I might as well put our lives into better use. This card can only activate when Necrovally is on the Field. I can send as many as Gravekeepers I want to the Graveyard and for each one I send, I gain 1000 Lifepoints. I'll send myself, Gravekeeper's Priestess, and Gravekeeper's Commandant. Gravekeeper's Descendant will be spared because he was not special summoned by the Wrath of the Royal Family." The priestess disappeared into the golden light and the commandant was next. Finally, the chief was swallowed by the golden light. It didn't take long for him to reappear on the stone platform.

**Fubuki: 700. Gravekeeper's Chief: 700 + 3000 = 3700.**

"If you didn't have extra life points, those attacks would have killed you, so you have the luck of the devil, boy," The chief pointed out, "Turn end."

Fubuki didn't move as he remained barely standing.

"Boy?" The chief asked.

Fubuki finally made a movement as he started to fell forward.

"Fubuki!" Sara cried.

Fubuki collapsed on the stone platform with a slight tumble. His eyes were nearly dimmed as he couldn't handle the shadow game anymore. He couldn't survive all those pains. No wonder, the other Obelisk Blue duelists lost before him. His eyes shook slightly as he was losing faith in himself. He could never return to Duel Academia. He could never see his friends and his beloved sister again. He didn't want to duel anymore. He couldn't handle anymore pain. His eyes nearly closed until he noticed a small object lying on the ground. He opened his eyes slowly to see a small black mask with red orb. His eyes suddenly widened in realization as he remembered that mask.

_

* * *

Back at the Duel Academia, there was an old Obelisk Blue dorms. Under that dorm was an abandoned underground cavern. Fubuki was running down the hallway until he reached the end and arrived at a circular cave filled with ritual patterns on it. He then gasped at what he seen._

_Standing in the middle of the ritual circle was a tall Obelisk Blue student with long dirty blonde hair. He was wearing a black mask with green eye covers and red orb in the center. The blonde chuckled, "I've finally found it! The ultimate power," He looked toward Fubuki, "Darkness!" _

_Fubuki's eyes shook with concern._

_Fubuki smiled triumphantly, "Fubuki, I've found it…The power which no one was able to find. The power far beyond the world of darkness."_

_Fubuki narrowed his eyes. He clenched his fists and yelled, "Stop! If your research is true, to obtain that power…!"_

_The blonde retorted, "I must sacrifice my soul. But, I don't mind. I want the strength, the power far beyond anyone!" His left arm was dripping blood._

_Fubuki questioned, "What are you doing?"_

"_The power of eternal life!" The blonde stated._

_Fubuki shouted, "Stopppp!"_

_But it was too late. The blonde opened his left hand, letting the blood dripped from the tip of his fingers. A single blood dropped into the ritual circle and immediately grew into a dark aura that surrounded the blonde whole._

_Fubuki braced the dark aura but he couldn't save himself or his friend. Before he even knew it, he was inside a dark red dimension, 'Where is this?' The same mask that the blonde wore floated in front of him. He then saw the tall blonde standing in front of him._

'_The entrance to darkness,' The blonde answered, 'Fubuki, I'm sorry for involving you. I'll become one with Darkness.' He had a sad smile on his face with dark veins throbbing on his chin and cheeks._

'_Don't go, Fujiwara!' Fubuki called out his friend's name. _

'_I'll give you that.' Fujiwara pointed out the mask._

_Fubuki grabbed the mask and then noticed his friend was drifting away from him._

'_I no longer need it,' Fubuki floated backward as the darkness slowly covered his body, 'Farewell, Fubuki.'_

* * *

"Fujiwara!" Fubuki yelled out his name, surprising the Gravekeepers.

The chief narrowed his eyes, "Hmm, he's still alive."

"Fubuki!" Sara exclaimed happily.

Fubuki slowly stood up on his knees. He panted heavily as it took all his strength just to barely get up. He cringed, "No…I can't die here…I still have things I want to do…someone I need to save…Fujiwara…" He slowly picked up the mask, "I'll use your gift."

The chief noticed the mask in Fubuki's hand, _'Where did that mask come from…and why am I sensing a disturbance coming from it…?'_

Fubuki whispered, "Grant me the power…" He placed the mask on his face and suddenly, there was a huge burst of power. The chief and Sara were nearly blown away by the cold dark force emanating from Fubuki.

Sara couldn't believe her eyes, "Fubuki!" She thought he was a regular human, a normal human. She couldn't believe that he possessed such an evil dark power.

The chief too noticed the dark waves radiating from the Obelisk Blue duelist. The dark waves dissipated as Fubuki was now one with his newfound power. Instead of his school uniform, he wore a black trench coat over his dark clothes. The chief glared, "You fool, how can you sell yourself to the darkness?"

"The darkness?" Sara whispered.

Fubuki chuckled evilly, "You called me a fool? Why? Just because I accepted the darkness? If that makes me a fool, then would you be a bigger one?"

"What?" The chief was insulted.

Fubuki smirked, "You started the Shadow game with everyone and caused pains to countless lives. Aren't you the bigger fool for using such power for evilness?"

"You…" The chief glared and hissed.

Fubuki chuckled again, "There's nothing wrong with using the power of darkness or the shadow game. Oh, it seemed we're still in the middle of a duel. Let us finish it to see who is the victor of darkness. Draw!" He drew the top card and his permanent trap card, Winterfeast shattered into glasses since Frozen Tundra no longer existed, "This hand doesn't suit me now. I'll start anew by playing this card, Card Destruction!" [**S5] **His new card showed a blue-skinned hand tossing cards away, "I'm sure you're familiar with this spell but just in case, both of us discard our Hand and then draw cards equal to the number of cards we discarded." He discarded three Cards and drew three cards.

The chief discarded two and drew two cards. He glanced down at his new cards and chuckled, "You shouldn't have done that, boy. Now I have better cards than before."

"It's not boy." Fubuki countered.

"What?" The chief replied.

Fubuki retorted, "It's also not Fubuki. It's Darkness. I no longer need that weak mortal name."

Sara just watched in disbelief, _'What's going on? This is not the same man I talked to in prison…it's like watching a different person…'_

The chief scoffed, "Look with your eyes, Sara. The man you cared for so much is now consumed by the power of Darkness. His duelist soul no longer existed!"

Sara's eyes shook in disbelief, "No…"

Fubuki, or now Darkness, chuckled, "I'm not dead yet, old man but you'll be soon as we're done with this pitiful Shadow game." He grabbed one card from his Hand, "I summon Masked Dragon [**M13 (3/1400/1100)**] in defense mode! Turn end." A large white-skinned dragon came into existence on the Field. It had red undercoat and two large wings with purple inner skin. It also had a long neck and even longer tail. It crouched on its four limbs and used it wings to defend itself.

The chief taunted, "You talked big for a boy who had far lower life points than mine and all you did is set up a defensive monster. And don't think that by changing your winter beasts to dragons will help you now."

Darkness chuckled. He then laughed evilly out loud as he found the situation funny. He smirked, "Silly old man, don't think the difference in our life force determine the victor already. Next turn…" He declared, "I will defeat you!"

The chief glared, "Insolent boy! I'll bury you here with your precious Darkness! Draw!" He drew his card, "If you think you can defeat me in your next turn, try defeating our strongest card!"

Sara blinked, _'Our strongest card? But osa is our strongest one but his card form is in the graveyard…what could be stronger than osa?'_

The chief pointed to his blonde sorcerer, "I sacrifice Gravekeeper's Descendant to summon Gravekeeper's Visionary!" [**M14 (8/2000/1800)**] The blonde sorcerer disappeared as a stone chair arose in its place. The chair was shaped like a throne with claws on its armrest and red, green, and blue wings on its back. Suddenly, a powerful lightning bolt struck the chair with a blinding flash. In few seconds, the flash cleared and revealed a powerful man sitting on the chair with his hands resting atop of the golden cobra staff. His powerful body was adorned with royal clothes that were far grander and more colorful than the chief's special clothes. He also wore the mask of Anubis like the commandant but its mask was more lustrous with its blue color, golden ears, and teal and red flaps.

Sara gaped at remarkable sight. She had never seen such a powerful Gravekeeper in her entire life as assassin. She could feel his strong aura all the way from here.

Darkness looked confused.

The chief knew what Darkness was questioning, "You wonder how I summoned a Lv. 8 monster with one tribute. That is his magnificent effect. It can be normal summoned with one tribute as long as that tribute is a Gravekeeper! And don't underestimate his strength because he is much stronger than that! First, he gets his power from Necrovalley!" The visionary glowed as he was receiving energy from the royal tomb, "Then his true power activates! For each Gravekeeper in the Graveyard, he gets 200 ATK boost!"

Sara's eyes enlarged in shock. She knew herself that were eight Gravekeepers in the Graveyard.

The chief yelled, "Now, Gravekeeper's Visionary! Receive your power from your deceased comrades and avenge their souls!" Then, there were many glowing orbs that were rising from the depths of the canyons. They were the souls of the Gravekeepers that fought in the previous rounds. They slowly entered the Visionary's body, enhancing his strength even more.

**Gravekeeper's Visionary: 2000/1800 + 500/500 + 1600/0 = 4100/2300**

Sara's eyes quivered in fear and admiration as their fellow Gravekeeper had reached the strength of the Gods. But Darkness just stood there as he was unfazed by all this power.

The chief shouted, "Gravekeeper's Visonary! Destroy that Masked Dragon with the Royal Family's Grand Vision!" The visionary held his staff toward the dragon as he didn't even more from his chair. He only chanted one word and suddenly, a huge white bolt from Heaven struck the dragon. Its unadulterated power completely obliterated the dragon into mere dust instead of broken bits.

"Masked Dragon's effect activates!" Darkness announced, "When this dragon is sent to the Graveyard by battle, I can special summon a dragon with ATK 1500 or less from my deck. I special summon Red Eyes B. Chick!" [**M15 (1/800/500)**] A red egg with cracked lines all over it materialized on the field. The top part of the egg was pushed off as a small black dragon with red eyes was coming out. He gave a soft roar.

"What's this? You summoned a weak dragon and now you summoned a weaker dragon?" The chief taunted, "Has the darkness blinded your judgment?"

Darkness chuckled, "What about you? Has old age dulled your senses?"

"What?" The chief glared.

Darkness chuckled more, "I admit that I'm impressed with your visionary's strength but it's gonna be nothing compared to what will appear on my turn. And this little guy will help me here." The baby dragon mewed in response.

The chief gritted his teeth, "Still cocky?" He played another card, "I activate Gravekeeper's Stele!" [**S6] **His magic card revealed itself with a picture of the Gravekeeper's Descandant standing in front of a tall stone stele, "This card allows me to return two Gravekeepers from the Graveyard to my Hand." He selected two Gravekeepers from the Graveyard and at the same time, the visionary's strength decreased.

**Gravekeeper's Visionary: 4100/2300 – 400/0 = 3700/2300**

Darkness smirked, "Oh? Weakening your trump card?"

The chief explained, "Heh, the visionary actually has one more effect. When it is about to be destroyed, I can stop its destruction by discarding one Gravekeeper monster from my Hand. So even if you have a way, it won't work. Sure, I weakened the visionary but he still has the strength of the Gods! Turn end."

Darkness chuckled, "Interesting effect! But I said I will defeat you this turn and I will! Draw!" He drew the top card and played it right away, "I play Pot of Greed [**S7] **and draw two cards," He drew two more cards and smirked, "I activate Red Eye B. Chick's effect! By sending this chick to the Graveyard, I can special summon Red Eyes Black Dragon [**M16 (7/2400/2000)**] from my Hand!" His baby dragon exploded with smoke coming out of it. The smoke then cleared as it revealed a large famous black dragon with red eyes. It flapped its majestic wings and its skin shone like bright polished armor. It had small sharp spikes on its spine and many horns on its face. It was a dragon, fitting of darkness.

The chief taunted, "That dragon cannot defeat my visionary!"

Darkness countered, "This dragon cannot defeat your visionary but it can do a lot of damage to you. I play this card, Inferno Fire Blast! [**S8] **His magic card had a picture of Red Eyes Black Dragon using his attack, "In exchange for not attacking this turn, I can do direct damage to you equal to his original ATK strength. Red Eyes Black Dragon, Inferno Fire Blast!" The black dragon opened its mouth and gathered red flames into a sphere. It then shot that fireball toward the visionary. The Gravekeeper held his palm toward the fireball and shielded himself from it. As the fireball was deflected, the red flames scorched past the shield and swallowed the chief alive. The leader screamed as the dark red flames burned his entire body.

**Darkness: 700. Gravekeeper's Chief: 3700 – 2400 = 1300.**

The chief gasped as he held his chest as the pain was nearly unbearable. He suffered lot of attacks in his previous duels but never before he felt such scorching feeling of flames of darkness. He narrowed his eyes, "It's not enough to defeat me. The next turn, my Visionary will destroy your dragon."

Darkness laughed, "But you won't have your next time. I said I will defeat you and I will!" He took out another card, "Since my Red Eyes Black Dragon can't attack this turn, I'll just have to evolve him into his ultimate form!"

"His ultimate form?" The gravekeeper was surprised to hear that.

Darkness stretched his arm toward his black dragon, "By sacrificing Red Eyes Black Dragon, I can special summon..." His black dragon soared high into the sky and then dived toward the depths. As it dived insanely fast, he set himself ablaze. As he reached the depths, molten lava poured out below their stone platforms.

Sara quickly jumped out of the way before the lava splashes nearly touched her. The chief could only stare in surprise.

Suddenly, serpents of flames rose from the lava and gathered into a form of gigantic dragon. The flames dissipated and the lava disappeared, revealing a fearsome dark dragon. Its armor-like skin shone like the darkest night decorated with red stones that glow the color of the deepest red blood on its hips. Its arms were now replaced by six beautiful wings with the same blood red stones crowned at the very top. It was a perfect dragon of darkness. Fubuki spoke his creature's name, "Red Eyes Darkness Dragon!"

The chief scowled as he was about to mention the same ATK strength as before.

Darkness continued, "Red Eyes Darkness Dragon is quite similar to your visionary. Your monster gets his strength from his deceased comrades. My dragon also gets his strength from other dragon in the grave. For each dragon in my Graveyard, the Red Eyes Darkness Dragon gains 300 ATK!" The dark dragon roared loudly as his ATK strength increased.

**Red Eyes Darkness Dragon: 2400/2000 + 900/0 = 3300/2000**

The chief spoke back, "It's still not enough to beat our mighty visionary!"

Darkness smirked evilly as he chuckled, "Old man, I still have one more card. Trust me…I win." He played the last card in his hand, "I play Dragon Heart!" [**S9] **His final magic card had a picture of a dark green dragon with white undercoat and yellow spikes. A heart was glowing outside its chest, "In exchange for not normal summoning this turn, I can send three dragon-type monsters from my Deck to the Graveyard to give one face-up Dragon type monster 1000 ATK until the end of my turn." He grabbed three cards from his deck and discarded them to the Graveyard. He smirked more, "And since there's three more dragons in the Graveyard, my Red Eyes Darkness Dragon gain additional 900 ATK points." The dark dragon roared louder than before as his ATK increased even higher.

**Red Eyes Darkness Dragon: 3300/2000 + 1000 + 900 = 5200/2000**

The leader's eyes wavered greatly at the might of the dark dragon's increasing power. He knew what would happen next. One attack would destroy his Visionary and not only that, but also wipe out the remaining of his Life Points.

Darkness yelled, "You say you have the strength of the Gods! Behold, I have the strength of the Devil!"

The chief's eyes widened even more in shock.

Sara suddenly heard rapid footsteps. Coming through the illusions of the royal tomb was a fragile man dressed in brown cloak. He also had brown turban and green scarf. Sara recognized him as Gravekeeper's Vassal. Sara immediately took out her dagger as she stopped the vassal, "Hold it! You dare interrupt the ordeal ceremony?"

The vassal was panting as he ran all the way here. His eyes showed sense of urgency, "Sara! Osa! We have intruders in the Royal Tomb!"

The chief suddenly looked at his vassal, "What do you say?"

Sara was stunned, "Intruders? But how?"

The vassal cried, "I don't know! But they're thieves who claimed themselves as the Dark Scorpions! Osa, they're after the Dark Items!"

The chief was shocked, "Impossible! How can a mere band of thieves know about the Dark Items?"

* * *

Inside the giant treasure room deep in the Royal tomb, five thieves dressed in brown sleeveless cloth armor over red pants. All five of them had tattoos of the black scorpions on their right arms.

A small blonde boy, Chick, held a couple of jewelry in his hands, "Wow, there's so many treasure, boss!"

A tall bald muscular man, Gorg, held a large heavy gold statue, "Hey, take a look at this! We can put this in our base."

An average guy with glasses, Cliff, grabbed a handful of gold coins and let them slip through his fingers, "With this much money, we're set for life!"

The woman with long brown hair, Meane, was putting on an earring, "Boss, don't I look beautiful?"

"Fools!" A mid aged man with an eyepatch, Don Zaloog, yelled, "Have you forgotten our real purpose here? We're here to steal the Dark Items!"

The Graverobbers looked at their leader with disappointed looks, "Aww…"

Don Zaloog sweat-dropped. He then scratched his cheek in embarrassment, "Then again, we might as well steal the treasures while we're at it!"

The Graverobbers cheered, "That's our boss!"

A squad of spear soldiers charged in. One of them shouted, "Halt!"

Chick shrilled, "Ahhhh! Boss, we gotta get out of here!"

"Rascal!" Don Zaloog clenched his fist, "Don't you remember who we are! Dark Scorpions! Gather!"

Gorg shouted, "The Dark Scorpion Muscleman, Gorg the Strong!"

Meane swayed her hair, "The Dark Scorpions' Lone Woman, Meane the Thorn!"

Cliff chuckled, "Any kind of trap is a cinch for Cliff the Trap Remover!"

Chick jumped excitedly, "If I take your treasure, what's left is to flee! Chick the Runner!"

Don Zaloog hit his chest with his fist, "And I'm Don Zaloog, the leader!"

All of them went into their positions as they posed ridiculously. They called in unison, "Together, we are the Dark Scorpions Graverobbers!"

There was a long uncomfortable silence as the chilling winds blew and the crickets chirping. All the Gravekeepers had a sweat droplet on the back of their heads as they couldn't believe that the intruders did something stupid.

"Um…" Gorg commented, "Boss, I don't think this is working."

Cliff pointed out, "This is not exactly something that's shouting fear into the people's hearts."

Chick cried, "Are we gonna be buried here, boss?"

Meane questioned, "Boss, what should we do?"

Don Zaloog closed his eye, "Isn't it obvious, you rascals? We break our way out of here!"

The Graverobbers asked, "You mean…"

Don Zaloog yelled, "That's right! We'll use our united attack!"

The Dark Scorpions took out their weapons, "Surekill! Dark Scorpion Combination!"They all charged

The Gravekeepers were taken back by their sudden declaration and action.

"Take this! Thorn Whip!" Meane used her whip and struck the enemies down.

"Double Revolver!" Don Zaloog shouted as he shot his double pistols at the soldiers.

"Trap Knife!" Cliff dashed forward and took out many Gravekeepers.

"Vigorous Mallet!" Chick smashed his enemies.

"Herculean Hammer!" Gorg swung his mace heavily and sent many Gravekeepers flying.

* * *

Near the dueling field, there was a large explosion at the side of the Royal tomb.

The vassal cried, "See? I told you!"

Sara just stood there in shock. The chief gasped as he couldn't believe his eyes, "Our Royal Tomb! We need to stop them right away!"

"Don't be a fool, old man." Darkness caught the chief's attention, "We're still in the middle of the shadow game."

The chief's eyes widened as he nearly forgot that he was still participating in the ordeal ceremony.

"Red Eyes Darkness Dragon!" Darkness called out, "Darkness Giga Flare!" The dark dragon roared as he gathered power with a purple glow around his fearsome body. He then breathed dark orange flame toward the Visionary. The dark flames was so scalding that the visionary completely melted along with his chair. The flames still continued to burn toward the chief and exploded. The chief screamed as the exploding flames melted away his life points.

**Darkness: 700. Gravekeeper's Chief: 1300 – 1500 = 0.**

The chief groaned as he collapsed on his knees. The burn was unbearable. He couldn't get up to lead his people to thwart the intruders. Suddenly, coming out of the smokes of the explosions was Darkness.

The vassal gasped, "Osa!"

Darkness grabbed the chief's collar and lifted him up, "I'm the victor. I'll be taking this." He used his other hand and pulled out a pendant under the chief's collared hood.

The chief's eyes enlarged in complete surprise, "The Dark Pendant! How do you know I have it?...Unless you're associated with those Dark Scorpions Graverobbers!"

Darkness chuckled evilly, "Don't compare me to those circus clowns. We're just working for the same client."

"Who?" The chief demanded to know.

Darkness laughed, "Don't you want to know? I won't give you that pleasure." He tossed the chief aside as he was trash, "Those clowns should have the remaining Dark Items by now. I'll be leaving with this now." He started to walk away with the string attached to the dark pendant clenched in his hand. Suddenly, he sensed a killer's intent. He quickly turned around and jumped back to avoid a killer slash from a dagger. The pendant was not lucky as it was sliced in half from the slash. The half remained holding by Darkness's hand but the other half had fallen to the ground.

Sara picked up that half pendant as she still held her dagger in threatening pose. Her eyes were full of intent to kill.

Darkness just looked at her, "How cruel…I thought you cared about me."

Sara hissed, "The one I cared is no longer here!" She suddenly charged in for a kill.

Darkness just avoided her deadly blow and smirked, "But I'm Fubuki…"

Sara scorned, "You're not Fubuki! You're not the man I know! You're some vile creature who possessed his body!"

Darkness chuckled, "You may be right about that…but…if you remember…he chose to accept me. He chose to wear the mask and took my power." They both heard more footsteps.

The vassal yelled, "Over here! Osa is injured!"

Darkness smirked, "I should be going now. I don't wanna stay in this gloomy old tomb." A dark portal formed behind him, "By the way…" His smirk grew wider, "He cares for you too." He jumped backward into the portal and vanished.

"No!" Sara screamed. She clenched her dagger and the half pendant so tight that her fists bleed. She bit her lips so hard that blood spilled from the corner of her mouth. She mouthed his name, "Fubuki."

* * *

Shadow was now outside the Royal Tomb with Sara and the Gravekeeper's Chief. He closed his eyes as he heard every details of their story, "The man possessed by Darkness and the Dark Scorpions Robbers were the one who stole the Dark Items."

The chief confirmed, "Yes, they had stole everything except this one." He lifted the half pendant hidden by his black hood.

Shadow opened his eyes as he looked toward the three suns that were getting closer toward each other, "I found an answer but that only brought more questions." He looked back at the Gravekeepers, "And I won't find the answers to those questions if I remain here."

The chief nodded, "We understood." He pointed to the suns, "When the three suns merged, the path to your world will open. I wish you safe passage, my lord."

Sara bowed again, "I wish you safe passage too, my lord."

Shadow walked toward the gate. He stopped and looked back, "Should you meet someone who wielded the power of the Pharaoh, I want you to give that half pendant to person."

The gravekeepers were surprised. The chief asked, "Why, my lord?"

Shadow answered, "If the Dark Items are responsible for the coming crisis in my world, then the duelist chosen by the Pharaoh will need all the help he can in order to prevail in the shadow games. Of course, I do not expect you to give the pendant for free. You said that you no longer give the right of ordeal ceremony. I will ask you to give that right to that person. I want you to test that person's strength to see if he's worthy of the Pharaoh's gift."

The chief obeyed, "I will obey your demand, my lord."

Sara bowed her head, "I'll take care of that person and make sure that he won't be harmed."

Shadow closed his eyes, "Good, then I won't need to worry." He walked back, _'The shadow game at the South Duel Academy. The missing Dark Items. The duelist chosen by the Pharaoh. All of those events have to be connected. Now…I wonder what sort of plan that the Gods has in for us mere pawns?'_ Shadow reached the gate as the three suns merged together. The green light flashed from the cracks on the floors of the gate. It flashed so bright that Shadow disappeared.

**TBC**

**

* * *

Next Episode Preview**

**Rad: **Ehh….Hmmm….That was boring!

**Shizuka sweatdrop: **Why do you say that for, Rad-san? That's mean thing to say especially when the writer put so much efforts into this episode?

**Rad pouted: **But we don't even appear that much. All it is some hot shot guy from Duel Academia! Where's us? Where's our spotlight? Where's Tsubaki?

**Shizuka sweatdrop: **Well, look at the bright side, at least you guys are the main characters again in the next episode.

**Rad: **Really? Yay! What is it about?

**Shizuka: **Umm…even though Yuki gets to stay in Duel Academy, he still has to be punished…oh my…

**Rad: **Eh? What kind of punishment?

**Shizuka sweatdrop: **Something like this…?

**Next Episode: Episode 19 – Kurai is the Disciplinary Chairman? **

**Rad: **….Wow…talk about a cruel and unusual punishment…

**

* * *

Card of the Day – Frozen Tundra**

**Alexander: **Frozen Tundra, a powerful field card that summon blizzard almost all the time. When that happened, monsters will get weakened. A perfect field card for the one nicknamed the Blizzard Prince.

**Tsubaki shuddered: **Frozen Tundra? Not my kind of place! I hate the cold.

**Alexander chuckled: **Of course you would hate it. After all, you're natural hot-blooded. You're fiery courageous soul. It's only normal that you would be stupid and hate the cold.

**Tsubaki: **…how do you manage to insult and compliment at the same time?

**Alexander smiled: **It's my natural talent. Plus it's such a shame…

**Tsubaki: **…What's such a shame?

**Alexander: **All great duelists actually trained in this sort of weather. After all, isn't an extreme conditions that tend to bring the best potential out of people?

**Tsubaki**: Eh? Really? I…never knew that…

**Alexander: **In fact, I heard Yuki is going to go there someday.

**Tsubaki: **Nani? Is he going there to train? I'm going too!

**Alexander: **You didn't know, Tsubaki? He's inviting you.

**Tsubaki: **Ehhhh? Really…I didn't think he would be the sort of guy to do that…Aww…he's really a great guy…

**Alexander smiled: **He wanted you to come along because the tundra would be the perfect place to bury you.

**Tsubaki: **….huh?

**Alexander: **And no one would ever find your body in the cold weather. Yuki can get away with murder! Isn't that brilliant?

**Tsubaki: **…..**::he twitched:: **…YUKI! I'M GONNA KILL YOU FIRST!

**Alexander smirked: **I'm just joking…maybe.

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 – Gravekeeper's Spy: Dark/Spellcaster/4/1200/2000: **Effect: FLIP: Special Summon 1 "Gravekeeper's" monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck.

**M2 – Gravekeeper's Spear Solider: Dark/Spellcaster/4/1500/1000: **Effect: When this card attacks with an ATK that is higher than the DEF of your opponent's Defense Position monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points.

**M3 – Gravekeeper's Priestess: Dark/Spellcaster/3/1000/1500: **Effect: The field is treated as "Necrovalley". If there is a face-up Field Spell Card, this effect is not applied. All face-up "Gravekeeper's" Monsters gain 200 ATK and DEF.

**M4 – Snow Partridge of Yalda: Water/Winged-Beast/2/500/300: **Effect:You take no Battle Damage from battles involving this card. When this card is sent to the Graveyard as a result of battle, you can activate "Frozen Tundra" from your Deck or Hand.

**M5 – Lucky Snowshoe Rabbit: Water/Beast/3/900/1000: **Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon up to 2 "Lucky Snowshoe Rabbits" from your Deck in face-up Defense Position. At the End Phase of the turn this monster was destroyed, you gain 200 LP for each Snow Counter on the Field.

**M6 – Snow Panther Warrior: Water/Beast-Warrior/4/2300/1700: **Effect: This card cannot attack unless you Tribute 1 monster on your side of the field. If this card attacks a monster with no "Snow Counter," it is changed to Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase. This card's battle position cannot be changed until the end of your next turn, except with a card effect.

**M7 – Snow Leopard Warrior: Water/Beast-Warrior/4/1800/1500: **Effect: If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, negate any Flip effects and destroy the monster with this card's effect without applying damage calculation.

**M8 – Gravekeeper's Guard: Dark/Spellcaster/4/1000/1900: **Effect: FLIP: Return 1 monster on your opponent's side of the field to its owner's hand.

**M9 – Gravekeeper's Commandant: Earth/Spellcaster/4/1600/1500: **Effect: You can discard this card to the Graveyard to add 1 "Necrovalley" from your Deck to your hand.

**M10 – Gravekeeper's Curse: Dark/Spellcaster/3/800/800: **Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned, inflict 500 damage to your opponent.

**M11 – Gravekeeper's Chief: Dark/Spellcaster/5/1900/1200: **Effect: You can only control 1 "Gravekeeper's Chief" at a time. Your Graveyard is unaffected by "Necrovalley". When this card is Tribute Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 "Gravekeeper's" monster from your Graveyard.

**M12 – Gravekeeper's Descendant: Dark/Spellcaster/4/1500/1200: **Effect: You can Tribute 1 face-up "Gravekeeper's" monster you control, except this card, to destroy 1 card your opponent controls.

**M13 – Masked Dragon: Fire/Dragon/3/1400/1100: **Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 Dragon-Type monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck.

**M14 – Gravekeeper's Visionary: Dark/Spellcaster/8/2000/1800: **Effect: You can Normal Summon this card by Tributing 1 "Gravekeeper's" monster. This card gains 200 ATK for each "Gravekeeper's" monster in your Graveyard. If this face-up card on the field would be destroyed, you can discard 1 "Gravekeeper's" monster instead.

**M15 – Red Eyes B. Chick: Dark/Dragon/1/800/500: **Effect: By sending this face-up card from the field to the Graveyard, Special Summon 1 "Red-Eyes B. Dragon" from your hand.

**M16 – Red Eyes Black Dragon: Dark/Dragon/7/2400/2000**

**M17 – Red Eyes Darkness Dragon: Dark/Dragon/9/2400/2000: **Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Tributing 1 "Red-Eyes B. Dragon" on your side of the field. Increase the ATK of this card by 300 points for each Dragon-Type monster in your Graveyard.

**S1 – Frozen Tundra – Field Spell: **Monsters lose 100 ATK for each Snow Counter on them. When a monster declares an attack on a monster with Snow counter on it, you can change the battle position of a monster with Snow Counter. During each player's Standby Phase and End Phase, place 1 Snow Counter on each face-up monster, except WATER-Beast, Beast-Warrior, and Winged Beast monsters.

**S2 – Necrovalley – Field Spell: **All "Gravekeeper's" monsters gain 500 ATK and DEF. Cards in either player's Graveyard cannot be removed from play. Cards in either player's Graveyard cannot be affected by card effects, except for their own effects.

**S3 – Graceful Charity – Normal Spell: **Draw 3 cards, then discard 2 cards.

**S4 – Blessings of the Royal Family – Normal Spell: **Activate only when you control "Necrovalley". Send any number of "Gravekeepers" you control to the Graveyard. Gain 1000 Life Points for each card sent.

**S5 – Card Destruction – Normal Spell: **Each player discards their hand and draws the same number of cards they discarded.

**S6 – Gravekeeper's Stele – Normal Spell: **Select 2 "Gravekeeper's" monsters in your Graveyard and add them to your hand. This effect cannot be negated by the effect of "Necrovalley".

**S7 – Pot of Greed – Normal Spell: **Draw 2 cards from your deck.

**S8 – Inferno Fire Blast – Normal Spell: **Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the original ATK of 1 face-up "Red-Eyes B. Dragon" you control. "Red-Eyes B. Dragon" cannot attack the turn you activate this card.

**S9 – Dragon Heart – Normal Spell: **Send 3 Dragon-Type monsters from your Deck to the Graveyard and select 1 Dragon-Type monster you control. It gains 1000 ATK, until the End Phase. You cannot Normal Summon or Set this turn.

**T1 – Winter's Den – Normal Trap: **Activate only when a monster you control is destroyed by battle. Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower WATER Beast or Beast Warrior monster from your hand or Deck. When you have "Frozen Tundra" on the Field, place 1 Snow Counter on each of your opponent's face-up monster.

**T2 – Winterfeast – Continuous Trap: **Activate only when you have "Frozen Tundra." During each of your Standby Phases, Special Summon 1 "Snowfluff Token" (Water/Beast/1/500/500) in Attack Position to your side of the field. The "Snowfluff Token" cannot be used as a Tribute for a Tribute Summon (or Set). If this card is on the field but "Frozen Tundra" is not on the field, destroy this card.

**T3 – Rite of Spirit – Normal Trap: **Select and Special Summon 1 "Gravekeeper's" monster from your Graveyard. This effect cannot be negated by the effect of "Necrovalley".

**T4 – Wrath of the Royal Family – Normal Trap: **You can only activate this card when there is a face-up "Gravekeeper's Chief" on your side of the field. You can Special Summon from your Graveyard any of the cards that include "Gravekeeper" in the card name. (You can only Special Summon up to 1 card with each card name.) Monsters special-summoned this way and Gravekeeper's Chief are destroyed during the End Phase of this turn.

**

* * *

Author's note on GX**

I wanted to point out the plot holes and how I filled them in. No one ever know where the Dark Items/Shadow Charms came from or how the Gravekeeper Chief have the Dark Pendant. So I thought it would make sense that the Gravekeepers protect the Dark Items just as the Tomb Keepers protect the secrets of Pharaoh in the real world.

It made sense why of all capable people that Kagemaru can hire instead, he hired those comedic Dark Scorpions. He probably hired them to steal the Dark Items during Darkness's duel, considering Kagemaru and Darkness were probably in cahoots. So Darkness's duel with the Gravekeeper's Chief served as distraction to the Gravekeepers, allowing the Dark Scorpions to easily steal the Dark Items.

Also, we never get to see the duel between Fubuki and the Gravekeeper's Chief. We also never get to see the connection between Fubuki and Sara. I hope this chapter displays that connection.

Another thing is that why Sho, Hayato, and Asuka were immediately captured without getting their chance to duel. No offense to the Gravekeepers, I think Asuka would have beat them herself, considering she's a pretty powerful duelist and one of the holders of the Seven Keys. So I made the Dark Items being stolen under the Gravekeeper's watch, so that it would tremendously wound their pride. So it would make sense that they no longer give the right of ordeal ceremony to any intruder unless Shadow asked them to give that right to Judai because Judai is chosen by the Pharaoh.

Fujiwara, well…I'm going to have to advise you to look him up because I heard that season 4 wasn't dubbed and this guy only appeared on Season 4.

I hope you enjoyed how I connect the events and filled in the plotholes. If you have any question, just leave a review and PM me and I'll do my best to ask without spoiling anything lol.

Also, seriously, leave a review! It would greatly help me!


	35. 19A: Kurai is the Disciplinary Chief?

**Author's note: **You know, usually a non-duel chapter like this should be short…but this one is so thrived with character interactions that I didn't expect it would be this long again. I seriously need to shorten the events planned out in my head. And of course, you noticed again that there's no another excerpt from Yugioh episode. That will be placed in the next half. Also, I introduced a familiar character that really deserved more screen time! However…I gotta figure out to improvise his guy's deck…Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoy reading it and leave a review. It's a huge boost to any writer's fire.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX!

* * *

Another day started anew at the South Duel Academy at the sole old natural island. It would be any other regular day where students attended boring classes, participated in fun practice duels, and buy new cards and chatted about cards. But it wasn't because this day was the start of the new semester. It was the day that results of the exams few days ago came out and determined which dorm they should be in and who should be kicked out.

Two Osiris Red students, one male with red spiked hair and one female with maroon hair decorated with hair clips, were walking down the dirt road and looking at their test results at the same time. They both sighed at the same time with great disappointment and yet relief at the same time.

The female, Izumi, glanced at the piece of paper that she liked to call trash, "Ever since the tag duel, I get to have a second chance to take the tests which I'm grateful to the teachs. But," She groaned, "With this score, we would never get to Ra Yellow." She shed fake tears.

The spiked hair male also shed fake tears, "Not even Obelisk Blue too." He pointed to his score which was lower than Izumi, "Terrible luck had plagued me ever since."

Izumi rolled her eyes as she had no faith, "I don't think we'll ever get to Obelisk Blue at our last year here." Since the Duel Academy students only stayed for three years.

Tsubaki cried, "I just want to live in that kind of place!" He pointed dramatically at the Ra Yellow mansion, "Is that so wrong? I heard they have fancy bedrooms that are like big as the classroom! They even have their own private bathrooms!" He was exaggerating, "A private bathroom! Do you know how painful it is to wait in lines at the first thing in the morning!"

Izumi smacked Tsubaki's face with her paper between her hand and his face, "Ew, too much information." She thought to herself, 'Although a private shower stall would be nice!' She cried to herself as she imagined Lisa, the Obelisk Blue rich blonde girl, laughing snobbishly as she was mocking Izumi with her own fancy rich bathroom, 'Even in my imagination, that snob is mocking me!'

Tsubaki sniffled, "And the food. Each dorm gets to have a large quantity and those yummy mouth watering tasty foods!" He already missed the food he ate at the Obelisk Blue party.

Izumi had a sweat droplet on her face, "That's true…live fishes are getting tiring."

"I hate fish! ARGHHHHHHHHHH!" Tsubaki roared as he ripped his test paper to pieces.

"Well, look at the bright side." Izumi averted her sight toward the ocean.

"Hmm?" Tsubaki wanted to know, so he looked at Izumi's view and saw a small cruise ship at the port. From the cliff, they could see numerous teenagers with luggage and dressed in normal clothes instead of uniforms, although there were those in uniforms hugging the people who were not. They were exchanging farewells and email addresses.

Tsubaki looked down slightly, "True, if we get any lower, then we might get kicked out of the academy."

"That's why we're lucky that we're not kicked out." Izumi pointed out.

Tsubaki laughed, "But you were nearly kicked out!"

Izumi pouted with her fists clenched at her waist, "Don't remind me of that!" She sighed, "Now I owe Yuki more than ever."

Tsubaki asked, "Come to think of it, where's Yuki?"

"Yuki was called to the office for something," Izumi replied while groaning to herself, "Leaving me behind to clean out his dorm."

Tsubaki blinked in confusion and asked, "Huh? Why? When I left this morning, his side of the dorm was clean."

"That stupid rich bimbo sent Yuki tons of gifts," Izumi twitched as she remembered that she saw the dorm was overfilled with flowers and chocolates, "And Yuki said since I "OWE" HIM, I have to clean it up."

Tsubaki whistled as he walked away silently.

Izumi roared as she grabbed Tsubaki's shoulder with some stretching arm, "You're helping me too!"

Tsubaki gaped, "Ehhhh? Why?"

"It's your dorm too!" Izumi shouted.

* * *

Further away from the two students, a lone student was entering a large building, the Duel Academy, set near the mountains of the island.

The student walked in, with a cold look on his face as he was extremely annoyed. He was wearing an Osiris Red uniform over his black jeans and his dark shirt. He continued walking down the advanced hallway until he noticed a certain smiling Obelisk Blue male student.

"Good morning, Yuki." The Obelisk Blue student, Alexander, smiled, "What brings you here?"

"I should be asking the same question to you." Kurai scowled at the sight of him.

"Oh I'm here on clerk duties. I always thought this way as repaying for my acceptance to Obelisk Blue." Alexander narrowed his eyes and held his hand under his chin, "Hmmm."

"What?" Kurai was already annoyed.

"Well I saw the results on the public board; I assumed you were going to be promoted to Ra Yellow." Alexander smiled.

Kurai crossed his arms and frowned, "I already knew that!"

"But you're not," Alexander continued smiling, "Well, but then again, you always did many reckless actions and broke lot of rules."

The first thought that came to Kurai's head, _'I'm going to kill this guy.'_

"I mustn't keep you and let you be on your way." Alexander walked past Kurai, "Good luck."

Kurai hissed, "I don't need to hear that from you." He walked on and reached the elevator, where a small blonde child-like girl was waiting for him.

"We've been waiting for you." Rebecca turned on the elevator and they both entered it. The elevator finally reached the top of the Duel Academy that led to the Principal's office.

As they walked together through the hallway in uncomfortable silence, Rebecca broke the silence, "Well?"

"Well, what?" Kurai asked in a bored tone.

Rebecca frowned, "Aren't you wondering why you're here?"

"Oh jeeze, you're a mind reader, aren't you?" Kurai replied in sarcastic tone.

Rebecca narrowed her eyes at Kurai, "No wonder, you got into lot of troubles. With an attitude like that, I'm surprised you're not captured by the police."

Kurai retorted, "No, the police declared me elusive."

"Har. Har. Har. Oh now, you're being a wise guy, huh? Whatever, I'm not going to deal with you." Rebecca rolled her eyes, _'Jeeze, darling is way much nicer than him.'_

The metallic door slid opened, revealing the large room with the glass walls at the end, displaying the view of the island. Two familiar Osiris Red professors were already waiting. Kurai couldn't find the principal but he noticed behind the desk, was the back of a black leather business chair.

"Hey, kid!" Tyrell, the Osiris Red Headmaster, waved excitedly.

"Hmph." Morgan, the Osiris Red Headmistress, refused to give her greetings to a troublemaker and just clenched her metal clipboard.

Rebecca cleared her throat and then held her arms behind her back, "Principal, Kurai Yuki, Osiris Red Student, is here."

The chair slowly turned around, revealing a very familiar person.

Kurai's amber eyes widened in shock as he gaped, "You?"

"Hey! Yuki, long time no see!" The Fisherman chuckled.

Kurai wanted to scream but he couldn't because it definitely goes against his cold guy reputation. But then again, right now he really wanted to ignore it and screamed. So let's hear him scream.

Okay, it didn't come. Kurai must really cared about his reputation or he never screamed before, so he doesn't know how to.

Kurai just shook his head as he was in some sort of nightmare. He blinked his eyes a few times and then he looked at the Fisherman who was smiling like crazy and had this tiny cute wave. Kurai blinked again and rubbed his head, "Is this some sort of nightmare?"

Rebecca swayed her head, "Nope, it's not a nightmare. I kinda wish it was but it's not. I know it's hard to believe but he's the Principal."

Kurai's eye twitched and he pointed to the Fisherman who was drinking out of coconut cup, "This idiot who fished for who knows how long and never caught a fish is the principal?" Morgan smacked the Fisherman's head with her clipboard and shouted something about proper behavior, "Oh dear god, I'm really surrounded by idiots."

Tyrell complained, "Hey, I resent that!"

Rebecca sighed as she shrugged, "I know how you feel."

Tyrell had a tiny sweat droplet, "Oh come on now, don't declare people as idiots before you even get to know them."

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "You're stupider than an average idiot."

"HEY!" Tyrell put his hands on his hips, "That really hurt, you know! I may be a man and we really don't know each other that well. But when a very precious student of mine who had a duel with me insulted me," He sniffled as he looked away, "It's really heart breaking."

Kurai scoffed, "Yeah, whatever."

Suddenly their little conversation was interrupted by a loud slamming noise from Morgan, who had flattened the Fisherman's coconut with her clipboard. The Fisherman had rivers of tears pouring below his sunglasses, mouthing MY COCONUT! Morgan glared at the people in the room, "Can we get down to business now? Time is wasting with your pity idle chat and we have serious duties to attend to."

Kurai rolled his eyes as he remembered there were few days that he saw Professor Tyrell just sunbathing and greeting his students and the Fisherman fishing in the same spot, talking about patience.

"What was that?" Morgan sneered as she noticed Kurai's eye movement.

"Nothing." Kurai just shrugged her by, not wanting to bother with the easily invoked old woman.

The Fisherman held his hands together, resting his elbows on the desk and his hands underneath his chin, "She's right, you know. So Kurai Yuki," He smiled knowingly, "I bet you're wondering why you're not in Ra Yellow with your score."

"Because I lost to the damn Dynast?" Kurai answered in unsure tone.

"Well actually, your duel with Dynast shows impressive skills. You would have been in Ra Yellow." Samson replied.

"Then why?" Kurai growled as he hated changing the subject.

"How do I say this, kid?" Tyrell crossed his arms as he was thinking hard how to make it sound nice instead of mean.

"You're being punished." Morgan retorted right away with stern face.

"What?" Kurai was slightly surprised and scowled, "The victor of the tag duel didn't get punishment."

Morgan narrowed her eyes, "The victor get the second chance of staying in the Duel Academy and avoid expulsion. The charges of trespassing in the ruins still remained."

Kurai growled.

The Fisherman chuckled, "Well you heard your teacher, as the Principal, I decided it that it would be appropriate that the Osiris Red Professors would decide the proper punishment."

Rebecca rolled her eyes, _'You're just too lazy to think of a punishment by yourself!'_

Morgan closed her eyes and poised herself as a strict woman, "I still held firm on the idea that Kurai Yuki should be expelled from the Duel Academy."

"Oh lighten up, Carol" Tyrell tried to calm Morgan down, "You just said so yourself that the victor gets the second chance, plus you don't expel the other kids."

Morgan's forehead vein twitched and she snarled, "It's Miss Morgan! And I still believe that those students should have been expelled."

Tyrell had a sweat droplet as he backed away, "Man, you're scarier than my drill sergeant and he's the toughest one I know…anyway come on now. The council had voted against you and decided that the kids should stay here."

"I still think the punishment should have been expulsion," Morgan crossed her arms while still holding on to the clipboard; "I don't see you try to think of a punishment!"

Tyrell thought hard for awhile and shrugged, "Hmm, what about no punishment?"

People fell down anime style. Kurai had a tiny tear of sweat while twitched as he was deeply annoyed.

Tyrell just swayed his head, "I mean kids are always curious. You can't really blame the kid here for wanting to go exploring."

Morgan suddenly had this scary aura surrounding her with her eyes glowing in fire and her metallic clipboard now seemed like a weapon of Hell.

Tyrell had a giant sweat droplet, "I bet that you don't agree with me." He suddenly went into a boxer's pose, "But I'm not gonna lose to you!" Eventually the two professors got into two big arguments.

Rebecca just smacked her head and wondered how in the world the Principal paired two opposite personalities in one dorm.

Kurai's forehead vein twitched more and more as he was very, very annoyed with this time wasting argument.

The Principal just whistled as he sipped his crazy straw attached to the coconut.

Kurai twitched even more at the Principal's behavior until he heard the door slid opened, revealing a woman dressed in Obelisk Blue uniform.

"Good morning, Principal, I'm here to turn in the proposal." Zenobia smiled as she held a packet of papers.

"Ah, Zenobia, I was waiting for that," The Fisherman took the packet, "Thank you. By the way, have you met Kurai Yuki?" He pointed to the student.

Zenobia turned her head as she stared at Kurai with interests expressed in her eyes, "Of course, we did met before." She smiled seductively.

Kurai frowned back as he hated being stared at as he was some idol at a pedestal.

Zenobia smiled slyly, "It's so good to see the infamous Kurai Yuki again. In case you forgot, my name is Zenobia and I'm the Headmistress of the Obelisk Blue female dorms." She offered her hand.

Kurai just crossed his arms and looked at her coldly, "Pleasure." He said it icily.

Zenobia chuckled and withdrew her hand, "Well, aren't you a charming little boy?"

Kurai glared at the mention of "little boy."

Zenobia just chuckled in response as she looked back at the two professors arguing, "What are these two are arguing about?"

Rebecca sighed exasperatedly, "They're arguing about Yuki's punishments and this is gonna take a LONG time."

"A punishment you say? It must be difficult." Zenobia smirked.

Tyrell groaned, "You have no idea. She's being a maniac."

"That's because you won't offer any punishment!" Morgan roared.

Zenobia put her fingers under her chin as she thought of something, "I have an idea but only if my proposal is accepted."

The Fisherman smirked, "Your proposal is accepted." He put the packet down after he finished reading it.

"What proposal?" Morgan demanded to know.

Zenobia answered, "A proposal for Disciplinary Committee."

"A Disciplinary Committee?" Rebecca raised her eyes out of suspicion.

Zenobia explained, "Since we are running low in security and we, teachers, had to teach our classes. We won't be able to keep eyes on our precious students. Why not use students to watch over students and strengthen discipline of this academy." She smirked, "And Kurai can the head disciplinary committee."

"Huh?" Kurai was very surprised.

Morgan was about to yell at Zenobia and tell how wrong that plan was, but instead she just blinked, "Actually, that's a good idea."

Tyrell sweat-dropped, "You serious? Well, it's fine with me too." He shrugged because he didn't have to think of anything.

Zenobia smiled, "Oh Carol, I'm so glad that you actually like it, considering you never like my ideas to begin with."

"Well I was pleasantly surprised that you actually had a good idea in a long while." Morgan laughed.

"Oh you flatter me. At least I have ideas unlike you. Ho! Ho! Ho!" Zenobia laughed along but really, they were exchanging sparks.

Morgan became serious again as she averted her head from the professor to Kurai, "It would do well for you. Perhaps, it'll teach you proper morals that you seriously lack."

The Fisherman just smiled, "Then it's decided!" He pointed to Kurai dramatically, "You are now the head of the Disciplinary Committee!"

Kurai just blinked as he was deeply shocked. He opened his mouth.

"NANIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII?" His loud scream shook the island.

Well, why do you know? He finally screamed!

**

* * *

Episode 19: Kurai is the Disciplinary Chairman? **

"HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!" A loud panting echoed and then the noise resumed its loud braying, "HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!" The crazy laughter came from a wore-down cafeteria, a block away from the Osiris Red Dorms. The owner of the laughter was a spiked red hair boy, Tsubaki, who was laughing hysterically and holding his chest, ignoring the throbbing pain. He couldn't hold it in and tried to straighten himself on his chair or he would fall off and roll on the floor, still laughing. Sitting across from the wooden table was Izumi, who had a tiny bead of sweat, embarrassed of her friend's reaction. Sitting next to her was Kurai, who crossed his arms and obviously pissed off at the annoying noise. Sitting next to Tsubaki was Alexander who was calmly drinking a poorly done tea made in the Osiris kitchen. Although the tea was terrible, he was secretly enjoying the display of feelings residing in their table.

Tsubaki kept laughing for many minutes and tears were coming out of his eyes, "HA! HA! HA! Oh my God, this is just hilarious!" He brought his body forward, trying to reprimand the pain, "Oh, my chest hurts!" He just laughed even more while banging on the table, forgetting the fact that their lunches were on the top, "Yuki? The Head of the Disciplinary Committee?"

Kurai's tiny twitching forehead vein just increased in size with each second that Tsubaki laughed passed. Izumi, who already noticed Kurai's mark of annoyance, had more beads of sweat droplets and she tried to calm Tsubaki before anything get any worse than before, "Tsubaki, I really think you should stop it, you know. Yuki already suffers enough, don't you think?"

Tsubaki didn't stop as he continued to laugh, "I'm sorry!" He hastily apologized before he resumed, "It's just too funny!" He stopped laughing to catch his breath and then explained, "I mean, Yuki had been this cold hearted troublemaker with this creepy aura that giving everyone this message, "Leave me alone or I'll kill you!" Now this same troublemaker had to bust troublemakers because he's the head of the disciplinary committee!" He pointed to the official badge, pinned on Kurai's Osiris Red uniform jacket. The circular badge contained three silver letters of H, D, and C while decorated with the edges that contained engravings that said Duel Academia Disciplinary Committee, "I'm laughing at the irony!" He resumed laughing again.

Alexander calmly sipped his tea and then set it down with a sadistic smile plastered on his face, "It is quite humorous, isn't it?" He chuckled softly which just made Kurai twitched even more.

Tsubaki wrapped his arm around Alexander's shoulder and pointed to him, "See! See! He agrees with me!" He just laughed even more and he returned to banging the poor wear-down table.

Kurai gritted his teeth and he clenched his hands on his crossed arms tighter while his forehead vein kept increasing in size until he finally snapped. He snatched Tsubaki's collar and dragged him up until Tsubaki's head was threateningly close to him, "Laugh for one more second and I swear," He clenched Tsubaki's collar tighter, "I'll grab my badge and shove it up your …."

"Oh my," Alexander smirked, "I bet both of you would enjoy that, would you?"

Kurai glared intensely and roared, "Do you wanna die?"

Tsubaki complained, "Damnit, Alex! I thought I said no more gay jokes!"

Izumi quickly interrupted the threat by putting both of her hands on the boys' faces and pushed them away, "Okay! No fighting and that mean no threats too!" She sighed annoyingly and she looked at Kurai with disappointment, "You need to chill. It's not Tsubaki's fault, you know."

Kurai just snarled like an angry beast. Alexander smiled and he went back to sipping his tea, "Izumi is right, Yuki. It is your fault for wanting to go to the ruin first and we merely went to get you because we were concerned for your life. You should know what dangers we had gone through to find you."

Izumi and Tsubaki just had sudden flashbacks of all the deadly traps they nearly evaded. They both nodded at the same time, "True."

Kurai just crossed his arms and looked away rudely, "Hmph."

"Yuki," Izumi tried to cheer him up, "It's not that bad. I mean I'm sure you can still duel and do whatever you normally do. You just have one extra thing to do, that's all."

"Yeah," Tsubaki agreed, "All you have to do is to catch the troublemakers and punish them….." He closed his mouth then he stifled, "Hmmmmm…" He finally broke and laughed even more which result a thrown ceramic bowl at his head, "OUCH!"

Kurai glared with his death look and then hissed, "I swear. Laugh again and I'll…"

"YUKI!" A high pitched voice interrupted his threat.

Kurai quickly recognized the voice and he groaned to himself, "Great." He tried to ignore the stomping noise and the new presence behind him.

Alexander smiled as he knew this presence, "Hello, Instructor Rebecca, it's a great honor that you grace us with your presence."

Rebecca rolled her eyes and she just waved it off, "Yeah, yeah, whatever spare me the suck up lines. You're making me sick."

Alexander just smiled, annoying Rebecca a lot, "I wouldn't dare."

Rebecca frowned but she knew better to ignore him and she faced Kurai, "Yuki! What are you doing here?"

Kurai just looked at her as she was an idiot, "Eating, isn't that obvious?"

Rebecca scowled at his remark, "Shut up. As your punishment entitled you, it's your job to clear up disputes and watch out for troubles!"

Kurai blinked and he looked around dully. He faced her again, "All clear."

Rebecca's forehead vein twitched but she composed herself, not letting her emotions taking charge, "You just love being a smartass aren't you? Of course not here, as we are speaking right now, there's a dispute near the Ra Yellow dorms. And you need to settle it because it's your job and your punishment! And if you fail to settle it, I had the power to report this to the Principal and get you expelled."

"Question!" Tsubaki had his hand raised up.

Rebecca sighed annoyingly and averted her eyes to Tsubaki, "What is it and we're not in the classroom."

"Is it really true that the Fisherman guy who fished in the same spot and never got a fish for who knows how many years was actually the principal of this Academy?" Tsubaki asked.

There was a long uncomfortable silence, making the lunch room deathly quiet which was rare because it was normally filled with noises from chatty students. It was so quiet that they could hear the crickets having their own concert. The silence was finally interrupted by Rebecca's answer, "Yes."

Tsubaki's jawbone dropped and he yelled in shock, "Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh! That mean Yuki wasn't joking?"

Izumi blinked as she was stunned, "That is so hard to believe."

Rebecca looked at the screen with shadow above her eyes and obvious disgust expressed in her face, "Make you wonder how in the world Kaiba chose this man to be the principal."

Kurai stood up abruptly, grabbed everyone's attention, "Near the Ra Yellow dorms, right?"

Rebecca just nodded silently and Kurai walked out of the cafeteria with hands in his pocket, displaying his strong resentment toward his punishment but he knew he had to do it.

Izumi quickly got up afterward and went after him, "Hey, Yuki! Let me help you!" She was following her sense of obligation to Kurai because she owed him a lot for his help.

Tsubaki swallowed his entire lunch in one gulp and then he followed them, "Hey, wait for me!" He just wanted to see what Kurai could do.

Rebecca sighed out of relief and she closed her eyes and swayed her head in disappointment, "This is going to be a disaster, I know it will," She opened her eyes, aware of the familiar presence she hated and she glared at the person drinking tea calmly, "I thought you normally go with them and enjoy their little troubles?"

Alexander stopped drinking his tea and slowly set the cup down. He smiled slightly with his hands wrapped around the cup, "I like being here with you." Alexander chuckled.

Rebecca raised her eye out of suspicion and she scoffed, "You're sick."

Alexander smiled again, "Maybe I am. I'm off. I need to enjoy the little show that Yuki might put on." He waved as he left the cafeteria.

Rebecca blinked as she was confused with his answer. She wanted to think about it but she had no time. She simply crossed her arms and rolled her eyes out of annoyance, "Hmph."

* * *

At the same time, a light violet-red haired boy, Rad, was waiting at the docks along with Professor Schmitt. Normally, Rad would hang out with the gang for excitement but he was stuck here instead. Rad sighed as he spun himself around on the dock line, "This is so boring! How long do we have to wait, Professor?"

Schmitt sighed as he was feeling a little irritated with his student's hyperactive and impatient nature, "You asked that a minute ago, Radnor."

Rad blinked curiously, "And?" He was expecting an answer.

Schmitt scowled, "Like I always said. Just a few more moments. We haven't seen the boat yet."

Rad whined, "I rather be with them right now. Every moment's always exciting around them, you know?"

Schmitt smacked his head, "Yes, I know…you said it a hundred times now." He looked at Radnor. He knew he was a strong Ra Yellow duelist and had excellent scores on the test, of course, he suspected that it must be out of pure luck instead of intelligence, "You know…instead of spending all the time with your friends, have you thought of improving your dueling skills?" In fact, Schmitt knew that with proper training, Radnor could be an Obelisk Blue duelist in short time.

Rad laughed, "Well, I don't know. I think I'm just fine as I am now."

Schmitt sighed disappointedly, "You know Radnor, I'm quite worried about your attitude. If you don't have a strong drive, you won't be a good duelist."

Rad blinked in confusion, "I'm not a good duelist? I don't know about that. I think I done well against people who challenged me."

"Personally," Schmitt gave his opinion, "I think your victories are just matter of…"

"Hey!" Rad interrupted as he saw something at the horizon, "I see a boat! Is that the one we're waiting for?" He pointed to a small cruise ship sailing toward the dock.

Schmitt placed his hand above his eyes for a closer look. He nodded, "Yes, that's the one we're waiting for."

Few minutes later, the ship arrived at the dock. As the crew members were tying the ship to the dock line, a tall handsome student came out onto the deck. He wore a brown stylish slouch hat with black hat band. He also wore a white collared button shirt over his black pants with brown belt. He analyzed the surroundings and then grinned, "Blue sky, white sand, emerald sea, hidden ruins! South Duel Academy is beautiful!"

Rad blinked and looked at the Professor, "Who's this guy?"

Schmitt answered, "James Crocodile Cook. The number one 1st Year Ra Yellow Student. He received the highest score on the entrance exam."

Rad whistled in amazement, "So this is the guy who gets a vacation and beat my score, huh?"

What made South Duel Academy different from the other Duel Academies was that students were given the chance to take transfer studies of their own choices. One could study in Japan for a semester and the other could intern in Industrial Illusions. To get those rare opportunities, students had to study hard and get good scores. The top scorer of Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue were given that opportunity.

Schmitt questioned, "James, how fare your archeological dig?"

James walked down the drawbridge and smiled, "It was exciting especially when I get to study with the amazing Doctor Hopkins!"

The others heard an old chuckle and they looked back to see an old man who wore a beige suit with a red bowtie coming out of his room to the deck. The old man smiled, "You flattered me too much, lad. I never have such intern who's passionate as you."

Schmitt was surprised, "Dr. Hopkins! It's an honor to have you here at our Duel Academy. Could you be here to visit your daughter?"

Dr. Hopkins smiled gently, "Precisely. I want to see how Rebecca is doing. Oh…" Something brushed past his legs, "James, your pet's awake."

Schmitt blinked, "James's pet? EEEEH?" He nearly freaked out as he saw a large green crocodile got on the draw plank, "A…a crocodile?"

"Karen!" James said the crocodile's name fondly as he walked back up the plank and kneeled by her. He rubbed her head, "Did you rest well?"

"Wow!" Rad clenched his fists excitedly as he stared at Karen in amazement.

James noticed Rad, "Hmm?" He grinned, "Like what you see?"

Rad nodded, "Yeah! That's one awesome toy you have there!"

There was a long uncomfortable silence as the winds blew.

James had a tiny sweat droplet on the side of his head but his smile was still on his face, "Eh?"

Schmitt smacked his head, "Oh for goodness's sake, Radnor…"

Karen suddenly growled as she hated to be called a toy. James quickly tried to calm her down, "Calm down, Karen…Maybe he didn't mean it…"

Rad ran up the draw plank and stared at it, "Look at the awesome details!" He kneeled down and rubbed Karen's back, "It felt so real too! Man, toys are so advanced these days."

James's sweat droplet became bigger, "Even this close, you still think this is a toy?"

Karen growled even more as she moved slightly.

Rad exclaimed, "Wow, it even moved too! It even growled! This is so awesome! Karen, right? That's one wicked toy!" He rubbed the crocodile's back.

Karen growled slightly but then she decided to forgive the simple minded boy as she was enjoying her back rub. She purred in content.

James blinked in surprise. He laughed out loud, "You're amazing, my friend. No one try to get close to Karen except you. I'm James but you can call me Jim!"

Rad replied, "I'm Radnor but you can call me Rad! Oh yeah, I was supposed to give you a tour or something."

Jim grinned, "Lead the way, my friend!"

Schmitt couldn't believe his eyes. He sighed, "I'm not sure if we allowed crocodile in school…" He narrowed his eyes, "But then again…I did received patients who claimed to be attacked by a lion…"

**Author's note: **Refer to episode 6 Part A for the lion!

* * *

Few minutes later, Kurai and his-so called gang of a ditzy girl, hot headed idiot, and a sadistic freak, had finally reached the Ra Yellow Dorm, where it was reported that there was a fight.

Tsubaki just blinked, "I felt so insulted by that comment."

Kurai replied dully, "It's true anyway."

"HEY!" Tsubaki snapped.

Izumi had a tiny sweat droplet, "I'm not a ditz, am I?" She asked out loud.

Kurai just looked away and Tsubaki just whistled suspiciously as he also looked in different direction for his friends. Both of them did not even bother to answer her question.

Izumi twitched slightly at the lack of answers and asked again in a much scarier tone, "I'm not a ditz, am I?"

Tsubaki had a large sweat droplet as he backed away from the scary girl, "Umm…AH, I wonder what's going on!" He looked at the other direction, changing the subject forcefully.

Many Ra Yellow students were gathered around to witness the fight between two male Ra Yellow students fighting each other with fists.

Izumi gasped, "A fight?"

Tsubaki gaped and clenched his fist with excitement, "Cool! A fist fight!"

Izumi glared at Tsubaki, causing the hot head to sweat drop nervously and quickly changed his comment, "Ah I mean, that's bad."

The Osiris Red girl crossed her arms and then she asked one of the Ra Yellow students, "Hey, why are those two guys fighting?"

The student responded, "They just had a duel and one of them was being a sore loser. The other one was attacking his sore spot, by calling him a weak duelist."

Izumi just looked in disbelief and narrowed her eyes, "I see…so it's the typical result of the male pride of two guys clashing with each other."

Alexander chuckled, "Aw, Izumi. Not all of my gender is like that. Either way, Yuki," he smiled, "isn't it your job to stop them?"

Kurai scowled, saying he doesn't need him to tell him what to do. He walked forward through the crowd, pushing the Ra Yellow students out of the way, earning yells and cries from them.

"I'm not weak! Take that back!" The defending student complained as he responded with a forward punch.

It was easily avoided by a slightly taller student and the offender retorted, "If you're being such a sore loser, then you are weak!" That earned him a punch in the face cheek. The taller student groaned and he quickly punched back in response.

The crowd either gasped out of concern or urged them to continue the fight for their own enjoyment until Kurai suddenly snatched both fighters' collars and broke up the fight.

The offender was surprised and peered, "What the hell are you doing?"

The other student yelled, "Don't interfere with us!" Then he finally noted a badge on Kurai's uniform jacket, "You're….you're the head of the Disciplinary Committee!"

The offender blinked and realized, "Hey, you're right! You're that guy on the morning announcement on the PDA!"

The crowd gasped as they realized it was him, the head of the Disciplinary Committee and also the one who dared to go to the forbidden ruin and won the punishment tag duel with Izumi against Lisa and Rebecca.

Izumi had a sweat droplet as she was surprised at the speed of how the news of Kurai's punishment spread so quickly, "News sure traveled fast."

The offender smacked Kurai's hand away and then complained, "Sir," Kurai twitched at the word SIR, "This guy here punched me and started the fight!"

The other student yelled back, "Hey! I didn't start the fight! You're the one who stared it by provoking me first with your immature name calling!"

The offender countered, "It's the truth! You really are a weak duelist! You just don't want to admit it!"

The other guy roared, "Oh, that's it!" He lunged forward at the offender and they started fighting each other again.

Izumi sighed, "This is going too crazy."

Tsubaki nodded in agreement, "I agree. These guys are amateurs. That guy should punch him right in…"

Izumi slapped poor Tsubaki with a steel paper fan courtesy of Yumi, an Osiris Red girl who used a Fan deck, "I'm not talking about that!"

Alexander smiled, "I wonder how Yuki is going to solve this."

Izumi had a giant sweat droplet as she had a bad feeling, "Something tells me, this is going to be a disaster."

Kurai just watched the fight between them with great annoyance. He pondered what is exactly that he is supposed to do as the head of the disciplinary crap. He was supposed to punish them, right? Or was it to settle disputes and take this calmly? Kurai twitched again, _'That's it, I'll just do it my own way!'_ He grabbed both fighters' collars again, surprising them.

Izumi blinked, "Yuki?"

Kurai dragged both of them toward the cliff and then tossed both of them into the ocean. Loud cries and screams were heard until a loud splash came afterwards. Everyone in the crowd were stunned and just started in uncomfortable silence. Kurai clapped his hands, to wipe the dust off, "Hmph, if it helps, I believe both of you are weak." He walked away, leaving the crowd to sweat drop and don't want to interfere with a scary man.

Izumi had more sweat droplets, "….I knew it was going to be a disaster."

Tsubaki, who just came crawling back after being sent flying from Izumi's steel fan, asked "What just happened?"

Kurai was about to enjoy his alone time until his obnoxious PDA rang. He groaned and then answered it. The LCD screen showed Rebecca's face and he groaned again, "What now?"

Rebecca frowned at Kurai's rude tone, "I take it that you're done?"

Kurai looked back at the two Ra students gasping for air as they finally swam out of the ocean and he looked back, "Yeah."

Rebecca stared at him suspiciously but decided to ignore it. She continued on, "Whatever, I need you to go over to the Osiris Red dorms, there's some bad argument there and I need you to solve it." Her face disappeared before Kurai get to say anything.

Kurai scoffed, "That damn coward! Why do I have to do this?" He growled and he walked back to the Osiris Red dorms. The others caught up with him of course.

At the Osiris Red, two female students were fighting over the ownership of a so called precious card. Both female students had their hands on a single card and they were pulling at the same time, yelling Mine! Mine! Mine! No, it's mine!

"…..girls..." Kurai rolled his eyes and pushed Izumi to them, "You take care of this."

Izumi blinked and she gaped, "Huh? Why do I have to do your job?"

Kurai replied, "Because I said so."

Izumi snapped, "That's not a reason!" she sighed exasperatedly, "Fine, fine, I owe you anyway," she walked up to the girls, "Hey, girls, what's the problem here?"

The first girl shouted, "She's trying to steal my card!"

The second girl gasped and retorted, "Your card? You mean my card! I bought that card!"

The first girl growled, "No, you didn't! I bought that card!" both girls resorted to a cat fight.

Izumi sighed and she broke them up, "Um, can someone care to tell me the story here?"

The first girl answered, "Well, you see there was a special sale at the card store yesterday."

The second girl continued, "And we have to buy it because we adore him!"

"Him?" Izumi asked.

"Him?" Tsubaki questioned.

"Huh?" Kurai raised his eyebrow.

Both girls screamed at the same time, "The most coolest man in Duel Monsters!"

Izumi blinked, "Most coolest man? Who?"

The first girl giggled, "You're so silly. Everyone knew who the most coolest man in Duel Monsters is."

The second girl giggled too, "That's right. No other man can be compared to this magnificent creature."

Tsubaki was offended, "I felt insulted again."

Alexander chuckled, "Well, there are some girls that desire fantasy men instead of men of reality."

Izumi had another sweat droplet on her forehead. She closed her eyes and laughed softly out of embarrassment, "Sorry that I didn't know. So who is this guy…um card?"

"Don Zaloog!" Both of them slammed the card directly at Izumi's face.

There was a long eerie silence of disbelief. Izumi looked at them as they were crazy and sadly, so did the guys except Alexander of course.

"Isn't he so hot?" The first girl squealed with dreamy eyes, "There was a rare-printed first edition for sale yesterday, so we split the cost and bought it."

Izumi just stared at the card with weird look, "Um…I guess it's hot in…some way."

The second girl sighed, "But we love him so much, we can't share him!" She snatched the card from Izumi, "So Don Zaloog belongs to me!"

The first girl roared, "No, it belongs to me!" She grabbed the card too but the second girl wouldn't let go, so they started having a tug of war contest.

"Ack, come on, girls! Can we all calm down and do this rationally?" Izumi tried to stop them.

But the girls didn't listen and continued pulling the card, yelling their claims of ownerships until Kurai snatched the card from them.

The girls were surprised, "Huh?"

"Yuki?" Izumi wondered what Yuki was going to do.

Kurai tore the card in half and then gave the halves to both girls, "Here, now both of you can have it." He walked away.

Izumi just gaped at the CRUELTY of what Kurai just did. The girls blinked as they just stared at the torn card. They suddenly broke into hysterical tears but of course, Kurai doesn't really give a damn.

Tsubaki sweat dropped, "Now that's a disaster."

Kurai was finally about to get his peaceful alone time until his PDA rang again. Kurai stopped at the first rang. Kurai just stood there, making sure he didn't hear anything until the second rang came. The dual-haired guy was twitching as he slowly grabbed his PDA from his jacket. He stared at it with great loathe.

Alexander just smiled, "I take it you have another job."

Kurai just glared intensely at Alexander. And Alexander was right. Apparently, there was a problem in the kitchen at the Obelisk Blue dorms. When the gang arrived there, Tsubaki and Izumi couldn't help but stared in great amazement at the magnificent castle-like structure and the fancy kitchen made out of expensive materials.

"Ehh, this is the kitchen for Obelisk Blue?" Izumi couldn't hide her shock.

"Hmm yeah, but this is rather too much for me." Alexander chuckled as he tried to ignore all the fancy jewelry decorations.

Tsubaki was drooling at the sight of all the fancy food prepared on the large marble table, "I'm in heaven again….look at all these food!" He was about to grab one but Alexander smacked his hand.

Alexander smiled, "Sorry, Tsubaki but the chef here is a close friend of Lisa. Steal one and you'll suffer Lisa's rage the first thing in the morning."

"Awww, man!" Tsubaki sulked, "I just wanted a tidbit of a five star meal."

Kurai had his arms crossed as he was waiting with great annoyance expressed in his face, "Where's the damn chef?"

"Right here!" A loud voice was heard.

The Osiris Red trio glanced toward the direction of their voice and their eyes widened out of pure shock. The Obelisk Blue Chef was a very macho man dressed in a pink chef's uniform with eyes that seemed to sparkles like the sort of eyes in Shojo manga. In fact, they seemed to see a strange flowery background behind this chef.

Tsubaki had a giant sweat droplet on the back of his head and then he looked back at Alexander, "I can see why he's a close friend of Lisa…"

"Oh monsieur, thank goodness, you're here! I have a grand probleme! A big problem!" The Chef was crying, making him such an embarrassing sight.

"What?" Kurai replied coldly.

The Chef cried even more, "So froid (cold)! Your heart is glace (ice)!" He stopped his crying act, "My dinner is tres (very) ruined!"

Tsubaki blinked and then he averted his head toward all the fancy food, "This is ruined?"

Chef wailed, "My le meilleur (best) recipe is missing one thing! And that one is chevere!" He said it so dramatically.

Izumi sweat-dropped and asked, "Chevere?"

Chef wailed even more, "Chevere! Goat Cheese!"

The Osiris trio just turned completely white out of pure shock and disbelief and they spoke at the same time, "Goat cheese?"

Chef sniffled, "Yes, you see, Je ordered goat cheese for this special day but Je received a call saying that the shipment will be delayed! Mon maitre (my master) dinner is ruined!" He begged Kurai, "Please, monsieur, you must get me the goat cheese!"

There was another long uncomfortable silence. Then Kurai walked away from the pitiful man.

"Kind monsieur?" Chef was questioning Kurai's action.

Kurai walked to the nearest refrigerator and opened it. Then he tossed a good old regular American cheese at the Chef, "Use that one."

Chef blinked as he stared at this strange object, "But this is American cheese, I need goat cheese!"

Kurai suddenly gave the Chef the death glare, making the poor Chef cried out of fright, "Cheese is cheese."

Chef cried, "Wahhhhhhhhhh! A monster!"

Tsubaki and Izumi sweat dropped and both of them waved their hands, "No, that's just Yuki."

Kurai was about to FINALLY enjoy his own quality time until the dreadful rang destroyed his peace. "ARGHHHHHHHH!" Kurai finally snapped as he grabbed his PDA and about to toss it in the ocean but Alexander caught Kurai's arm. He smiled, "If you throw that away, you won't be able to duel here anymore." Since PDA was the student's official ID in strange sort of way.

Kurai scowled and sadly the poor gang had to settle disputes, stop fight, mediate arguments, and do bunch of minor ridiculous tasks. By the end of the day, Kurai finally went back to his room and collapsed on his bed, groaning to himself as he knew why this job was going to be a punishment for him. He was about to head off to slumber-land until the horrible rang disrupted him. Kurai moaned and decided to ignore it. He left his PDA to take messages. The PDA stopped ringing and the message was recorded and replayed, "Hey, Yuki," It was Rebecca's voice, "I know you're there and not even going to bother picking up your PDA, so I'm just going to tell you this. I'm giving your email to all of the students."

Kurai's eyes snapped open and he grabbed his PDA, "Nani?"

"So the way, when students have problem, they can just contact you. You better do your best, Yuki!" The PDA stopped playing the message.

Kurai's eyes were still wide with great shock and he cursed out loud. It seemed it was not really a punishment but rather torture for him.

**TBC**


	36. 19B: Kurai is the Disciplinary Chief?

**Author's note: **What the hell? What happened here? I kept telling myself that it would be short! I did tell myself to make it short! I have all the events planned out and it became way longer than I thought! This chapter is literally the longest chapter I ever wrote especially for a supposedly just a casual duel…which became more than casual, heh. I hope you guys really enjoy it and not…um…be scared of the length, XD.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! Credit goes to GX-ST for their subs of episode 18 and 19.

**

* * *

Episode 19 Part B**

A week had passed since the holy divine punishment, Professor Morgan would like to call, was set on poor Yuki Kurai. Blessed as the Head of the Disciplinary Committee, Kurai was assigned to resolve any problems on the Duel Academy Island. His life as a solitary duelist had sadly ended because he was dumped with problems given by the merciless students and teachers. The poor poor lone duelist, how he must suffered this horrible punishment but then again, was Yuki Kurai really poor?

"This is torture! Torture! I'm telling you!" Tsubaki snapped as he grabbed his head and rubbed his spiky hair fervently,

"I heard you, Tsubaki…but Yuki…" Izumi was looking down with blank teary eyes and a complete dazed look as she was sleepless for many nights.

Alexander just smiled as usual, "I guess this is what they meant…a cruel and unusual punishment."

"IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE HIS PUNISHMENT! NOT OURS!" Tsubaki and Izumi snapped with demonic teeth and eyes as they pointed accursedly at Kurai sitting at the end of the Osiris Red Cafeteria table, checking his annoying PDA.

Tsubaki clasped his hair and his eyes were bloodshot as he was remembering horrible memories, "Seriously! Everytime Yuki solve something in his own way, it just got even worse!" He wailed.

Izumi cupped her face, hoping to prevent her body from shaking out of fright mixed with anger, "And when it got worse and bloody and violent, we're the one who had to clean it up!" She cried.

Alexander just smiled as he secretly enjoyed their tortures. Yep, he's a complete sadist. He slowly drank his cup of tea and then set it down gently, "You know there's always one way."

Tsubaki and Izumi suddenly looked at Alexander as he was an angel sent by Heaven. They yelled at the same time, "Really?"

"Yes," Alexander answered, "All we have to do is kindly ask Yuki to be a nice gentleman and solve the problems with kind and gentle manners."

Tsubaki and Izumi stared at Alexander with blank stares as the sadist mentioned the impossible. They slowly inched their head with grinding noises toward Kurai, who had overheard the conversation.

Kurai narrowed his eyes into a glare, "Hell no." Like hell, he would be a proper gentleman.

Izumi just let her head fell on the table, sobbing her sorrows out, "We're doomed!"

Tsubaki also had his head on the table, sobbing too, "To be perished in the wake of Yuki's evil deeds!"

Kurai twitched and he looked at them as they're both idiots. He stated the obvious, "Nobody asked you to help me."

Both Tsubaki and Izumi stopped crying and they both blinked at the same time with beady eyes. Tsubaki sat back up and he blinked, "That's true…we don't really need to help Yuki…so why?"

Izumi sat back up and she sighed with a tiny sweat droplet on her forehead, "That's because somehow, we felt like it…"

Tsubaki sighed disappointedly, "That's true…"

Alexander went back to drinking his tea, "It's certainly quite mystery."

Tsubaki looked at Alexander with suspicious look, "And you're a living mystery!"

Alexander looked back with a gentle smile and closed eyes, "Why, thank you."

"Come to think of it, I just noticed something." Izumi just realized.

"Notice what?" Tsubaki averted his head to Izumi.

"That there haven't been many pleas to Yuki these past days. I mean ever since Yuki got a message from Rebecca-sensei, there had been lot of messages from others and we had to help out a lot but now…it seemed calm…" Izumi glanced at Kurai, "You notice that, didn't you?"

Kurai closed his PDA, "So what if I did. I honestly don't care."

Tsubaki had a sweat droplet, "You just say that because you're not bothered anymore."

Izumi was still thinking, "But still…"

"Hey, Tsubaki!" A loud cheerful hyper voice echoed throughout the cafeteria.

Tsubaki's body jumped and started to shiver. His eyes widened and his alert sense was heightened. He quickly glanced around, "….please don't tell me who I think he is here…"

Alexander smiled, "It is."

"Here's my "I haven't seen you for seven days" worth of daily greetings!" A hyper Ra yellow boy jump kicked Tsubaki in the face cheek, sending the poor spiky haired guy flying and bouncing off the walls like a pinball. Rad blinked as he landed on his feet, "…..I think my hello is too strong."

Alexander smiled, "Nah, it's just right."

Izumi had a giant sweat droplet and thought, _'Poor Tsubaki…'_

Rad realized, "Oh yeah." He pointed at Kurai, "Yuki! If you wanna borrow my card, just say so!"

Kurai blinked and he stared at Rad as he was an idiot, "What?"

Rad laughed as he patted Kurai's shoulder, "Aww, don't deny it! I know you're being a cold guy and all but just admit if you want to borrow my card!"

Kurai looked at him with confusion, "What the hell are you talking about?" He was about to ask until his PDA rang. He quickly opened it and glanced, "….I have to go." He left.

"Oh come on, Yuki! Don't be such a coward and admit that you need my card?" Rad laughed as he yelled at the retreating Kurai.

Kurai stopped in his tracks as he heard the word coward. He slowly turned his head toward Rad with eyes glinting. Few seconds later, Rad was lying on the floor with blank unconscious look and blood coming from his head.

Izumi gaped, "ACK! Rad!"

"Nobody called me a coward." Kurai rubbed his fist and then he left the cafeteria.

Izumi quickly kneeled by Rad and shook his body to make sure he's moving, "Rad? Rad! Are you okay?" Her eyes quivered as she finally stopped shaking. She gasped in horror, "I think…Rad's dead!"

"Good riddance!" Tsubaki shouted as he came crawling back into the cafeteria in bruises after receiving Rad's powerful kick.

"Tsubaki! That's a mean thing to say!" Izumi reprimanded.

Tsubaki countered, "Not as mean as you who rather checked on Rad than me who was kicked all the way to China!"

Alexander smiled cheerily with closed eyes, "How's the dim sum? I find them quite tasty."

Tsubaki smiled the same way as Alexander did, "Oh, I find it tasty too. It just needs a little bit more soy sauce…" He snapped with red angry eyes, "I was being sarcastic!"

Alexander just chuckled amusingly as he drank his tea.

"Well," Izumi explained, "I don't really need to worry about Tsubaki that much because I knew he got some defense against Yuki after…heh…getting so many abuse from him."

Alexander interjected, "That would make sense since Yuki is the sadist and Tsubaki is the masochist in their lovely bond between men."

Izumi closed her eyes and nodded in understanding, "That's true."

Tsubaki roared with his demonic eyes and razor sharp teeth, "DAMNIT, I'M NOT GAY!"

Rad suddenly got up, surprising Izumi and Tsubaki.

Izumi asked immediately, "Rad, you alright?"

Rad laughed as he rubbed the back of his head and ignored the blood pouring down his face, "Man, that Yuki! His greeting punch is so strong!" He laughed more.

Izumi had a sweat droplet dripping down the side of her head, "You think Yuki punched you because he was greeting you?" She sighed, "I'm so amazed that you can't even see the negatives…" She smiled slightly, "But I guess that's a good thing about you."

Tsubaki's vein twitched as he groaned out of annoyance, "It's not a good thing. I'm trying to tell him that we're not buddies but he still think we are."

"By the way, Rad," Alexander pointed out, "How come you haven't visit us? Tsubaki was so lonely without your company. He's so fond of you, you know?"

Tsubaki glared at Alexander, "Am not!"

Rad grinned, "Jeeze, Tsubaki, why don't you say so? I'll definitely visit more often!"

Tsubaki moaned out of frustration. Alexander just smiled, "Wonderful."

"The reason I didn't visit was that I was busy with my new friend." Rad explained.

Izumi questioned, "A new friend?"

Tsubaki stared at Radnor with disbelief, "Seriously? A psycho like you has a friend?"

Rad laughed at Tsubaki's friendly insult, "Yep! His name is Jim! And he has this really cool automatic toy crocodile!"

Alexander stopped drinking his tea as he heard that name, _'Jim?...Hmm…I wonder if it's that person…'_

Rad grinned, "I'll introduce you to him someday." He then looked back toward the direction that Kurai left, "I wonder when Yuki will return my card?"

Tsubaki looked at Rad as this was first time he heard of it, "What do you mean by Yuki will return your card?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Kurai just received a call from Professor Morgan, so he headed toward the office on the top floor again. He really began to hate this office because all of his troubles started there and also… When Kurai reached the top floor with an elevator, he was suddenly hugged tackled by a familiar old lecherous man in Hawaiian clothes.

"Oh Kurai! I was so heartbroken! I couldn't believe my ears!" The Fisherman was hugging Kurai tightly, "That you would commit such horrible crimes! But don't worry, I believe you're innocent."

Kurai blinked in confusion but mostly he was twitching out of pure disgust, "Get the hell off me!" He punched the Principal and sent him flying.

The Fisherman quickly stood up after his fall. He was teary eyed as he rubbed his swollen face cheek, "My own student hurts me." Then he received a smack from a steel clipboard from Morgan.

"Principal, I said it before and I'll say it again. Show some proper behavior!" Morgan reprimanded him.

"….why am I called to this nut house?" Kurai's forehead veins were twitching as he was deeply annoyed by everything that recently happened. He was fully aware that the Professor Gabriel and Professor Anya were here too.

Professor Gabriel was standing still with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and stared at Kurai, "Kurai Yuki, you are being charged for stealing rare cards from other duelists."

Kurai was shocked, "What?"

* * *

"Um, let me make this clear. Yuki borrowed a rare card and then never returned it to you?" Izumi was treating Rad to lunch at her ranked cafeteria.

Rad was munching on his food, "Yep, that's right! But I'm not the only one! Yuki also borrowed rare cards from others too and never returned them!"

Alexander smiled at his friend's naivety, "The way you describe Yuki's action. Wouldn't it make sense that he was stealing?"

Rad blinked as he stopped chewing his food. His mind then clicked in from realization, "Ah! You're right! Yuki stole my card! That's why he didn't return it!"

Tsubaki rolled his eyes, "Oh now you finally realize it?"

Rad continued, "That means he also stole the others' cards!"

Izumi yelled, "But that can't be true! Yuki isn't the kind of person who would steal cards from others!"

"But it is true! Everyone said so!" Rad spat out his food.

Tsubaki groaned out of disgust, "Finish eating, and then talk! But I have to agree with Izumi, Yuki doesn't strike me as the kind of person to steal." His eyes softened as he knew better when he stole Kurai's deck awhile ago.

Alexander smiled as he pointed out, "But it does explain why there were less demands for Yuki this week. They all must be frightened by this cruel dishonorable duelist."

Izumi had a tiny sweat droplet, "Alex, you're not helping."

Alexander chuckled, "Sorry." He opened his eyes filled with wisdom, "Rad, how do you know it was Yuki that stole your card?"

Rad thought hard and then he answered, "First I got an email for him, saying that he wanted to apologize for his rude behavior and tell him to meet somewhere."

Izumi and Tsubaki had a giant sweat droplet as they both thought the same thing, _'That doesn't sound like Yuki already!'  
_  
Rad continued, "So I went there, just to find it dark. And then I got tackled and got my deck missing. When I finally found my deck, I realized one of my cards is missing."

Alexander smiled, "But, have you seen Yuki?"

Rad blinked, "Come to think of it…...Not really since it was so dark…"

Alexander drank his tea, "So you haven't seen Yuki yourself, how can you claim that he stole or borrowed your card?"

* * *

"Don't lie to us, you troublemaker!" Morgan snarled as she accused her student, "All the students claimed that you were the one who stole the cards from them."

"I don't even know what the hell you were talking about, uptight witch." Kurai insulted the Professor, "Your mindless law crap doesn't make any sense."

Morgan's blood heated tremendously as her forehead veins kept popping one after another. She was really pissed with the student's badass attitude. She wanted to yell at him but instead, she quickly calmed herself down by squeezing her metal clipboard so hard that her fingers left behind imprints, showcasing her terrifying strength. She pushed her anger aside and explained, "Don't try to act innocent. We have reports from countless students who filed official complaints that you stole their rare cards."

Kurai glared, "I never stole cards."

"You may say that but the proof is against you," Morgan frowned, "All the reports said that you had lured them with your email messages and your PDA number matched the same number."

"You gotta be kidding me." Kurai couldn't believe his ears. He was being accused of a false crime.

"Oh but I'm not kidding. I don't kid around, Kurai." Morgan continued, "With the evidences stacked against you, you will be expelled and the police will pick you up. You'll be sent to jail for your burglary crimes."

The Fisherman, Kamil, sighed as he knew this would happen again, He intervened, "Now hold on there, Miss Morgan. You're being too hasty there, should we not give the young guy here a chance to explain himself?"

Morgan turned her head around to face Kamil with an angrier glare. She refused to let the troublemaker get away unscathed without any punishment, "There is no need for explanation! The evidence is already there! How much longer are you going to defend this boy who will be a menace in the future?"

"Heh," Kurai smirked slightly, "You think too highly of me." He would argue with this problematic teacher but he knew it would be too much hassle to deal with a stubborn grown-up. So instead, he decided it would be fun just to add more fuel into her fire.

Morgan quickly growled back at Kurai as she felt offended at his enjoyment, "You insolent…"

Kamil interrupted, "Miss Morgan, I knew you must here because you're in charge with any disciplinary problems but if I need to punish a student, your presence would only be required but you're not only here, are you?"

"But…"

Kamil opened his closed eyes, showing the seriousness in his dark eyes, "You're not the only teacher here, are you, Miss Morgan?" His words held double meanings. It was true that Morgan was not the only teacher here in this room but his words indicated that if Morgan's behavior continued, she would be replaced if wanted.

Morgan felt a little threatened by Kamil's tone. She groaned disappointedly and looked toward the other teachers, "Let me guess, Kurai is not the one who steal the cards."

Anya gazed at Morgan with her knowing stare, "I would like to speak but then I would find myself refuted by non-believer."

Kamil offered, "Regardless, I would still like you to speak."

Anya nodded, "Very well." She then averted her heard toward Kurai, "This may sound very strange but Kurai held a special presence. A rare presence that any duelists here do not have. In fact ever since he came back from the ruins, his special presence became even more noticeable…"

Morgan scoffed, "And what does this have to deal with the case of the stolen cards?"

Anya explained, "A powerful presence has a wavelength. Any actions caused by that presence leave that wavelength behind. When I ask my students whose cards were stolen, I felt nothing around those students. If Kurai did really steak the cards, he would leave that special wavelength around those students but there were none. In fact, his wavelength is crowding this room as we speak."

Kurai raised his right eyebrow in suspicion. He was looking at Professor Anya as she was a complete weirdo. He shrugged it off as he was enjoying Anya's weird compliment.

Morgan rolled her eyes in great disbelief, "You gotta be kidding me."

"Hmph, would you settle for my opinion, then?" Gabriel interjected.

"At least, you're one of the sensible ones." Morgan pointed out.

Anya frowned slightly and then looked away as she refused to exchange words with Morgan. Gabriel told his side, "Like Professor Anya, I interviewed my students too and noticed something. It seemed our culprit made a grave error. He would have framed Kurai and got away with it too if it wasn't for that error."

"What error was that?" Morgan asked.

Gabriel answered, "The Obelisk Blue students' cards were stolen at their own place."

Morgan frowned slightly as she didn't understand. "What are you trying to say?"

Gabriel replied with a question, "How can a mere Osiris Red stole cards from them in areas only confined to Obelisk Blues?"

Morgan's eyes increased in realization. She countered, "Of course, we made Kurai a Head of the Disciplinary Committee. It's only natural that he would get access to all those areas."

"That's where you're wrong." Kamil explained, "I already asked Miss Zenobia about the details of Kurai's status. She had not grant Kurai all access, so there's no way that Kurai could be in Obelisk Blue dorms unless the culprit is an Obelisk Blue student."

Morgan just growled and then looked away from the others as she didn't want to show her embarrassment and frustration on the fact that Kurai got away with punishment again.

Kurai crossed his arms out of annoyance, "Then what's the point of calling me here if you knew I'm innocent."

Kamil explained, "We just wanna hear your case. After all, there is a small possibility that you might do it. Plus you are the Head of Disciplinary Committee, you must get to the bottom of this case and find proof that you did not do this. You have three days, Kurai, to find the perpetrator."

Kurai groaned as he had to do more troublesome task but he wouldn't let this go because he would not be accused of stealing, "Fine."

* * *

Inside the Duel Academia, Judai was walking down the hallway toward the student card store. He then noticed a crowd in front of it, "Hmm? What the?" He ran up to Misawa, who was one of the bystanders, "What's all the fuss about?" He peered over the crowd, "A fight?"

Misawa just smiled as he sweat-dropped slightly at Judai's enthusiasm for a fight.

Judai stared closer and noticed there was a wide empty space between the store front and the crowd, "Huh? What the?" He then noticed a Ra Yellow student on his left standing behind two set cards, "Who's that?"

Misawa answered, "Kagurazaka. A student from Ra Yellow."

Judai glanced at Misawa, "I can tell by looking." He then looked toward his right, "But I mean, what's…" He gasped as he saw Sho standing behind Jetroid, "Sho!"

Sho heard his name and quickly saw Judai, "Um..Aniki!"

Judai pushed his way through the crowd, "What's up, Sho…"

Sho retorted, "I'm wondering that of you." He quickly pointed to a poster of Yugi plastered on the wall above the store, "That! That!"

Judai gaped in surprise and read, "Duel Academia – The Top Duel King. Mutou Yugi's Deck Exhibition!" His eyes gleamed with excitement, "Then that means…! Yugi-san's prestigious Deck is gonna be at this academy?"

Sho scolded, "What else could that means!" He noticed Judai was still staring at the poster, "Aniki?" He ran up to Judai and waved his hands in front of his face, "Aniki!"

Judai just continued staring in amazement.

* * *

Back at the South Duel Academy, inside the Obelisk Blue dormitory, Kurai and the others were at someone's room.

"Yuki, you certainly like to cause lot of troubles, don't you?" Ethan, another Obelisk Blue boy who loves to collect data, was typing on his laptop in amazing speed that rivaled top hackers. Kurai and the others were in Ethan's room since Alexander suggested asking Ethan for help.

Kurai crossed his arms, "Troubles follow me. It's annoying."

Tsubaki was just moving around from one spot to another, admiring the riches of the Obelisk Blue dorm room, making random comments that involved WOW and COOL.

Kurai's forehead vein twitched, "Especially that trouble."

"Hmm, I don't mind," Ethan replied, "It made this dull academy life more interesting." He resumed typing, "It's safe to say that the thief must be a boy."

"Really? How do you know that?" Izumi questioned.

Ethan explained, "Just yesterday night, a thief stole a card from an Obelisk Blue in the boys' dorms. Only males duelists would have access to those areas plus…" He taunted, "I doubt Yuki's obsessive female fan would let other females ruin his name or they'll suffer her wrath."

"Obsessive female fan?" Izumi repeated and her eyes rolled up as she thought hard. She then remembered and her eyes turned blank out of annoyance, "Ah, Lisa…"

Alexander chuckled as he found Izumi's face slightly amusing, "You have to give that girl some credit. There's no way she would let any other girl ruin her precious Lord Yuki's name especially Izumi."

Izumi's forehead vein twitched and pouted, "How am I ruining Yuki's name?"

"From the very start of our school year," Kurai mocked, "you ruined my name." He grudgingly remembered their entrance duel, the one he had to take in Izumi's place."

Izumi blushed out of embarrassment and complained, "Hey! How many times do I need to apologize for that?"

Kurai scoffed, "You're not the only one." He glared intensely at Alexander who was the one who forced Kurai to duel with Professor Tyrell.

Alexander smiled back with his sadistic closed eyes, "Oh Yuki, can't you really blame me? I just merely want justice done."

Kurai hissed, "Only when it's for the sake of your sick fun, sadistic bastard."

"Well, at the very least," Tsubaki pointed out as he looked back at the others. He closed his eyes and pointed to himself proudly, "I have nothing to do with Yuki's status as Osiris Red at the beginning."

Kurai rolled his eyes, "Hmph, your existence is ruining my image."

Tsubaki snapped with red angry eyes and sharp teeth, "HEY!"

"Anyway," Izumi changed the subject, "We now know the thief is an Obelisk Blue and a guy," She sighed, "We did narrowed it down but that's still a lot of suspects."

"How about narrowing it down a little more?" A new and somewhat familiar voice caught everyone's attention in the room. The duelists in the room glanced to see the newcomer.

Tsubaki gasped as he pointed at the newcomer dramatically, "You're…"

Izumi called out, "The Dynast!"

"Hey there, everyone." Hiroshi, a black haired duelist, gave a polite wave, "I hope you don't mind the intrusion, Ethan."

"Even if I do mind, you still come in anyway." Ethan didn't even looked away from the computer as his fingers typed in furious pace, "I take it you got new information for us?"

"Perspective as usual, Ethan." Hiroshi chuckled lightly, "I heard Kurai is here, so I came to help out but it seems…" Hiroshi had a tiny sweat droplet behind his head as Kurai was giving him the death glare, "he doesn't want it."

Kurai scowled in response. His blood was boiling with intense rage. He couldn't help it because after all Hiroshi is the duelist that Kurai had lost to officially. Everyone on this South Duel Academy knew about it.

Alexander smirked, "Oh, Yuki is just being a sore loser." That earned the sadistic freak an angry growl from Kurai who glared back at him.

Izumi frowned at her friend's ill-intentioned behavior, "Yuki, down, boy! The Dynast came all this way to help us out, so show some appreciation a little."

A vein twitched atop of Kurai's head as he slowly looked back at Izumi with a scary glare that translated "Did you just treat me like a dog?"

Izumi suddenly turned pale white as she shrunk all the way to the bottom corner of the screen. She apologized meekly, "Um…gomen…Yuki…"

Alexander smiled, "So what helpful information can you give us, Mr. Dynast?"

Hiroshi informed, "I can tell you for sure that the Obelisk Blue is a first year."

Izumi queried, "How do you know that?"

Hiroshi smiled and confessed, "Because I got my cards stolen too."

That actually made the Osiris Reds surprised except Kurai who narrowed his eyes as he couldn't believed that a powerful duelist would let get his cards kidnapped.

"So basically…you actually fell for that "I want to apologize to you" message from Yuki?" Tsubaki asked.

"Of course not," Hiroshi reassured, "I just don't like a thief so I wanted to capture him myself but that little guy was quite sneaky. He got away along with my rare cards too including a rare card given by a friend of mine."

Ethan remarked, "So the culprit is little, huh? It would make sense that it's first year."

"See." Hiroshi smiled, "My information is helpful."

"Not really since it's not needed," Ethan countered, "Because I just hacked into some random guy's PDA and found an email for today from the so called Yuki." He put the email on display.

Kurai narrowed his eyes as he silently read it.

"Okay! So all we have to do is wait there and get him right there on the spot!" Izumi shouted her idea.

"I'm going alone." Kurai walked off.

"Huh? But Yuki!" Izumi called out but Kurai already left.

Alexander smiled, "It seemed he took offense of being charged for stealing."

"Well I don't blame that guy." Tsubaki commented, "It's not fun of being accused as a thief." Tsubaki closed his eyes.

Izumi glanced at Tsubaki. She had this strange feeling that Tsubaki experienced something similar in his past.

Hiroshi kneeled behind Ethan as he peered at the computer screen, "Heh, is this fate? This PDA number belonged to James Crocodile Cook."

* * *

The sun eventually set down and the moonlight shone brightly. The evening came and Kurai knew it was time to go to the designated place. He headed toward the Duel Academy and entered an empty classroom. It was a pitch black lit by a faint moonlight of the half moon. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to adjust his view to the darkness. But the immediately, Kurai heard heavy footsteps and he quickly looked back to see no one there behind him. The heavy stomps continued along with an additional sound of a hiss. The cold duelist suddenly recognized that hiss wasn't human and looked down to see an alligator marching toward him, _'A crocodile here at the academy?'_ He stepped backward away from the humongous reptile. But right away, Kurai felt a presence behind him.

"Gotcha!" A tall shadow leaned in behind Kurai as it was attempting to grab him with both arms. However, Kurai already sensed him and ducked in time. The shadow was taken back, "I missed?"

As Kurai ducked, he immediately extended his right leg out and low-kicked the shadow in the legs. He watched him fell to the ground as he quickly got up away from the shadow and the alligator. Luckily, Kurai had experiences of handling street thugs back at the New York streets. He raised his fists up in guard, "Finally show yourself, huh, Yuki?"

The shadow immediately sat up, "Yuki? I'm not Yuki! I'm not the thief!" The moonlight shone through the window and revealed the shadow's face of a handsome young man with a brown slouch hat and bandages over his right eye.

Kurai accused, "Anyone can claim that." He was about to rush forth to deliver a punch.

"Yuki?" Kurai stopped running as he heard a familiar cheery voice. He groaned slightly as he looked up toward the top row of the classroom seats. A familiar Ra Yellow boy stood up from his hiding spot, "Hey, Yuki! Whatcha doing here?"

Kurai twitched slightly at Rad's stupid question. It was very obvious why he was here. He replied, "I'm here to catch the thief, dumbass."

"Wow, what a coincidence!" Rad somehow completely ignored Kurai's insult and grinned, "Jim and I are here to catch the thief too! I heard you were being framed, so I wanted to help you out and Jim offered!"

"Yo!" Jim greeted happily, "So you're Yuki Kurai I heard so much about, huh? Hmm," He then pondered, "Kurai…Kurai…" He then exclaimed in realization, "Ah, Kurai means Darkness, right? I'll call you Dark Boy!"

Kurai compressed his eyes in anger toward that name.

Jim sweat-drop, "Woah, take it easy! I didn't mean to offend you. It's how I call everyone like this guy here, I called him Happy Boy!"

Rad laughed, "Because I'm always happy!"

Jim introduced himself, "I'm James Crocodile Cook but you can call me Jim." He kneeled by his crocodile and rubbed her head, "And this here is Karen."

Kurai scoffed, "If you're not the thief, I'm leaving." He left the dark empty classroom.

Jim's left eye blinked as he whistled, "Not really a friendly fellow, is he?"

"Heh, don't worry," Rad defended, "That's just how he is but he's really a fun guy!"

As Kurai stepped out of the classroom, he couldn't help but felt frustrated that the thief is not captured. Then all of the sudden, he heard rapid footsteps heading toward him. With quick reflex, Kurai jumped out of the way but someone managed to grab his deck from his jacket. Kurai immediately knew that it was the thief but the culprit had ran off the hallway before he even get to grab him.

"Damnit!" Kurai gritted his teeth and he set chase. As soon as he ran further down the hallway, he found his deck in a messy pile before him, "Shit…" He stopped chasing as he kneeled down to pick up his mercenaries cards. When he picked up the last card, his eyes widened slightly. Kurai stared at his deck and he narrowed his eyes, "Damnit….How am I going to find him?"

"Kuri. Kuri." A meek voice replied.

Kurai just stood there with his eye twitching, "Please don't tell me I just heard that."

"Kuri! Kuri!" The meek voice sounded louder as the owner flied closer.

Kurai walked off, "I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that."

"KURI! KURI!" Yami Kuriboh was facing Kurai's face directly and suddenly a HUGE SMACK was heard throughout the hallway.

Kurai was panting as he was actually scared and he slammed the poor Yami Kurbioh spirit into the wall. Kurai snapped, "DON'T APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE LIKE THAT!"

Yami Kuriboh was dizzy eyed as it slowly slid the wall to the floor, "….kuri…"

Kurai crossed his arms, "I was hoping you would disappear already."

Yami Kuriboh suddenly flew up to Kurai, "Kuri! Kuri!" He was telling his master something.

"Huh?" Kurai looked at him as he was an idiot.

Yami Kuriboh continued, "Kuri! Kuri!"

Kurai raised his eye out of suspicion, "You know what the thief looks like?"

"Kuri. Kuri!"

"You know where he is?"

Yami Kuriboh nodded and he flied off to show the way. Kurai just stared at the floating object, watching it getting smaller and smaller as he flied farther away. Kurai blinked, "…..how in the hell do I understand him?"

Kurai decided it was his only clue that's related to the thief. With that in his mind, he reluctantly followed the flying puffball. Yami Kuriboh led Kurai out of the Duel Academy and directly to a nearby cliff, where he noticed a small child. That small boy was wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform coat but what surprised Kurai a little was that the child barely looked like he's 12. The boy had short straight light teal green hair. Kurai sharpened his sense of sight and quickly noticed that the boy was looking through holographic cards. He thought to himself, _'So he is the damn thief. I'm gonna make him pay,'_ he shouted, "Hey!" The boy jumped out of fright and he slowly looked back to see pissed off Kurai.

His lime green eyes quivered and his body shivered as Kurai's death aura consumed the poor lad. "I didn't do anything!" the boy finally spoke, "Please leave me alone!" The boy was afraid that this scary teenager will hurt him. Kurai's death aura just grew larger and the boy cried hysterically as he knew that his fear was right.

Kurai hissed, "Didn't do anything? Leave you alone? After that humiliation? I don't think so."

The boy was shaking but he swallowed a handful of cowardice and spoke, "What are you talking about? I never met you."

"Oh we did meet. We just never get the chance to properly introduce ourselves," Kurai said sarcastically and then he sent a death glare, "I know you been stealing cards under my name."

"Your name?" The boy was confused until he realized, "EH! Are you the infamous Kurai Yuki!" The boy whimpered, "Are you going to kill me like the rumors said?"

Kurai's forehead vein twitched and he responded coldly, "No, I'm not going to kill you….yet." He added that.

The boy screamed with river of tears pouring from his shocked eyes. The only thing in his mind was, _'HE'S REALLY GOING TO KILL ME!'_ He realized something and quickly yelled back. "Wait a minute, why do I mean I steal cards? I'm no thief!"

Kurai crossed his arms, stating the obvious, "Your reaction was too slow and you responded to my name quite strongly."

The boy had a tiny sweat droplet which was an obvious sign of guilty as charge. He answered back, "Well I heard your name and I'm…um…scared of you."

Kurai suddenly sent the death glare that sent chills to the boy's poor bones, "Scared of me? If you don't give back the cards, I'll make you….see Hell!" A fiery background with a devil roaring appeared behind his back, frightening the poor boy into hysterical tears. The devil background vanished and he put out his hand, "Now give back those stolen cards unless you want me to toss you off the cliff."

The boy just collapsed on his knees because he couldn't stand up against Kurai's deadly death aura. He was too weak to even stand up for himself. He looked down with his eyes hidden in shadows of his hair. He quivered, "You…you don't understand."

Kurai withdrew his hand, pondering what the boy was up to.

The boy looked up with teary eyes, "You don't understand anything! You're strong and I'm weak! You kept winning tough duels and even stood against the Dynast! There were rumors that you challenged the genius, Hyun-Ki too! You were unbelievably strong even though you were an Osiris Red and I'm Obelisk Blue! I'm not strong as you! I'm weak…and everyone knew it…yet they put me in Obelisk Blue…even though I don't deserve to be one! Even so…" He clenched the grasses with his closed fists, "I'm supposed to be strong! The Obelisk Blue had a reputation of being the strongest dorm and I have to uphold that reputation for the sake of others! But with my deck, I can't do it…and many Obelisk Blue people can because…they have rare cards…those guys were rich enough to buy bunch of rare cards and use strong decks like Monarchs decks, Frog decks, or Chaos Decks! That's why I stole rare cards! So I can win!"

"…..pathetic." Kurai mumbled softly.

"Huh?" The boy was shocked as he heard that word.

"Pathetic." Kurai narrowed his amber eyes, "These so called strong duelists you said are pathetic, including you!" he glared, "Duelists like those used cheap decks, so they could win prizes but it's not a complete victory. They didn't build their own decks. They merely added cheap combos with staple cards. Those people made me sick." He tossed a duel disk (where did that come from? OH well) to the boy, "If you think you could win with those cheap cards, I dare you to duel me right now."

"What?" The boy was surprised.

"If you can win with those stolen rare cards, I'll let you go and turn myself in under false crimes. However," Kurai attached the duel disk to his arm, "if you lose, you'll have to give back those cards and turn yourself in."

The boy gulped, "But…I'm…"

"If you back out," Kurai's glare intensified, "I can turn you in right now. I'm giving you a chance, don't give it up."

The boy gulped again but he reached his pockets, feeling the rough cover of the holographic cards. He thought to himself, _'If I give up here, then he would just turn me in and I would fail…but…if I can win….and beat him…then everyone would admit…that I'm strong…including me…'_ He snatched the duel disk and attached it to his arm, "I'll fight."

Near the cliff, hidden in the bushes were two certain people spying.

"I can't really believe that a kid like him would be a thief." Izumi softly yelled, to make sure she was not caught.

"Well, maybe someone forced him too, you know." Tsubaki suggested.

"If that's true, then how come he didn't tell the professors about this?" Izumi questioned.

Tsubaki frowned slightly, "There are things that you can't tell beside one thing bothers me."

"What?" Izumi asked.

Tsubaki turned seriously with dark shadow plastered on his face, "Is Yuki really serious about killing?"

There was a very long uncomfortable silence between the two duelists.

Izumi finally answered, "I wish I could say it's only a joke…but…" She had a giant sweat droplet on her forehead, "I'm not really sure." Tsubaki also sweat dropped too.

"I'll be sure to give my respects during your funerals." A voice was heard.

Both Osiris Red duelists cringed and they slowly looked back. They suddenly found Alexander spying too.

"Hi." Alexander greeted with his trademark smile.

Both duelists were silent for awhile and then they instantly screamed out of fright as they were surprised by Alexander's sudden appearances, never ever get used to him.

Kurai, who heard their screams, just twitched and muttered, "Those idiots."

Yami Kuriboh just sweat dropped, "Kuri…"

Kurai frowned, "No kidding, they're complete fools…" He realized and he snapped, "Wait! Why am I talking to you?"

The boy blinked as he stared at Kurai talking to an invisible air. He thought, _'is this guy alright?'_

"Start the damn duel already!" Kurai took out his frustration on the boy and activated his duel disk.

"Um…Right!" The boy activated his duel disk too.

Tsubaki tried to calm his heart that was beating quickly from his recent fright. He looked back at Alexander, "Jeeze, how many times we told you not to show up suddenly like that!"

Alexander smirked, "It can't be bad as the other sort of greeting you get."

"The other sort of greeting?" Tsubaki blinked in confusion until suddenly, someone kicked him from behind and broke his spine, "AHHHHHHH!"

"Hey, Tsubaki!" Rad greeted with his usual enthusiasm.

Izumi was surprised, "Rad? You're here too!" She noticed an unfamiliar tall person, "And…this is…"

"Yo," Jim smiled, "I'm Jim! You must be the guys that Happy Boy been talking about. Spring Girl! Flower Boy! Knight Boy!"

Izumi looked at him confusedly, "Huh? Spring Girl?" She had a tiny sweat droplet on the side of her head, "Are you referring to the English meaning of my name?"

"Knight Boy?" Alexander laughed, "That fits me and my deck theme," He smirked, "Although…I would prefer to be called scary boy but that's your preference."

Tsubaki miraculously recovered from Rad's greeting attack as he roared at Jim, "FLOWER BOY? FLOWER BOY? Do you realize how gay that sound?"

Kurai gritted his teeth as he was trying to ignore the idiots behind him, "I'll go first." He drew his card. He frowned slightly as he knew that Industrial Illusions tend to make powerful cards holographic and rare but he was determined to crush those powers with his own strength, his own deck. He snatched two cards from his Hand and set them down, "I summon E-Merc Tempest Lady [**M1 (3/1000/1000)**] in defense mode!" He summoned his winged female mercenary, his faithful ally. The Tempest Lady landed on the Field and crouched with her wings as shield, "I place one card face down. End my turn." A card materialized.

_'…I'll show you…that it's inevitable to go against the rare cards.'_ The boy drew his card and quickly played it, "I special summon Cyber Dragon!" [**M2 (5/2100/1600)**] A metallic-plated dragon arose from the field with its grinding roar, "I can summon this monster when I have no monsters on the Field and my opponent has one."

"Cyber Dragon?" Tsubaki queried, "Is this related to Cyber Hell Hound?"

Alexander commented, "They're actually from the same dojo. The Dynast of our academy used Cyber Hell Hounds but the legendary Kaiser of Duel Academia used Cyber Dragons. I never thought we would see one right here."

"Wow, that's great!" Jim exclaimed as he was excited to see a rare creature.

The boy played another card, "I sacrifice Cyber Dragon to summon Jinzo!" [**M3 (6/2400/1500)**] The metal dragon dissolved into pieces as it was soon replaced by a tall robot dressed in black trench coat with metallic green shoulder pad and gloves. The robot's head resembled a human head but it was nasty pink and its brain seemed to be revealing. It wore mechanical microphone that replaced its mouth and red goggles that replaced its eyes.

Tsubaki gaped, "That's a classic card! I never saw that card again ever since the Battle City!"

Izumi blinked, "That creepy looking monster is famous?"

Tsubaki shouted, "That creepy monster is one of Jounouchi's trump cards!"

Izumi sweat-drop, "Jeeze, you don't have to yell at me. I didn't know much about famous duelists."

The boy explained, "Jinzo had an effect to negate all trap cards on the field! Thus your trap card is ineffective!" He felt proud of himself.

"Heh." Kurai mocked, "Whoever said it was a trap card?"

"What?" The boy was surprised, "Not a trap card?" He gasped, "Not an instant magic card!"

"Correct," Kurai activated his magic card, "I play Soaring Whirlwind!" [**S1**] His new magic card revealed a tiny art of Tempest Lady in the middle of a huge tornado, "This card cans only works when I have Wind E-Merc monster on the Field which conveniently is Tempest. Also when you summon a monster higher level than Tempest Lady, I can activate this card and return all your monsters into your hand! Tempest Lady! Soaring Whirlwind!" The winged warrior flapped her wings and soared high to the sky. She flapped her wings repeatedly until she created a huge whirlwind swirling in the middle of the field. She flapped her wings one last time and sent the whirlwind toward the opponent's field. The mighty twister sucked in the android and sent him back to where it belonged.

"Those rare cards you stole," Kurai's eyes became cold, "I'll show how weak they are."

The Osiris Red duelist's cold eyes sent intense shivers through the poor boy's back. He was beyond frightened and tried to be brave, "Rare cards are everything! If they are not powerful, then why are they are rare in the first place?"

Kurai scoffed, "Does it look like I can read the stupid long-hair clown-face guy's mind?"

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Yuki just insulted the president of the Industrial Illusions company…"

Izumi sweat-dropped, "Well, it's a good thing that he's not here on this island."

The boy whimpered as he looked down at his hand. He could only look down in disappointment with his eyes hidden by his bangs, "Turn end." His field was entirely empty.

Rad commented, "Wow, that kid had a bad hand if he couldn't set any cards this turn."

"Draw!" Kurai drew his card and his eyes widened slightly. He stared at the card he just drew, _'Huh, I haven't seen this card for awhile…' _He gestured toward his winged warrior, "I sacrifice Tempest Lady!" The winged female dissolved into a golden light that served as a small portal for a stronger monster.

Izumi blinked in surprise, "I never saw Yuki summon a higher level monster except fusion."

Kurai placed the card he drew on his Duel Disk, "I summon E-Merc Radiant Knight!" [**M4 (6/2400/1800)**] The golden portal flashed brightly and then disappeared to reveal a handsome young soldier. He had straight uneven lime green hair with a long black band with golden plated ends and golden decorate leaves on the edges tied around his eyes. He wore silver chest armor with beautiful golden holy symbol decorating it over his chain mail that covered his arms and collared around his neck atop of the chest armor. His shoulder pads, greaves, bracers, and waist side armors over black pants were silver too with golden curves. Atop and attached to his left bracer was a round silver buckler with golden circles. He carried a black halberd with golden jeweled armor on the silver blade.

Tsubaki gasped, "A new E-Merc monster that's not fusion?"

"With new monsters means new fusions," Alexander pointed out, "Although Yuki hasn't fuse yet."

"You're right about that," Izumi crossed her arms as she wondered, "Usually with Yuki's luck, he would attempt to have a fusion monster already."

"Really?" Jim asked, "So his deck strength is based on fusion?"

Rad answered, "Yep, Yuki always have the luck to come up with a fusion monster to overturn the situation."

"Is that so?" Jim commented, "His style is almost similar to mine but different."

Kurai shouted, "Radiant Knight, attack him directly!" The silver armored knight held his halberd with two hands as he dashed forth toward the boy. He then swung his halberd across, slashing the boy's chest and forcing him back. The boy screamed out not out of pain but fright as his Life Points heavily decreased. The knight mercenary jumped back to his Field, "Radiant Knight has an effect fitting his status. Whenever he caused damage to my opponent, my Life Points get to heal by that much damage."

**Kurai: 4000 + 2400 = 6400. Boy: 4000 – 2400 = 1600.**

Yami Kuriboh chirped happily at his owner's move, "Kuri! Kuri!"

'_I'm just gonna ignore you, stupid puffball,' _Kurai grabbed another card and inserted into the slot of his Duel Disk, "I also place one card face down. Turn end!"

The boy just stared at his Life Points glowing on his Duel Disk's screen. He closed his eyes and whined, "I can't do it! I'm not going to be strong like an Obelisk Blue! I'm not good as you!"

"Shut up." Kurai was feeling annoying with this kid's whining, "If you don't think you're strong as Obelisk Blue, then don't bother staying there. Ranking doesn't have to do anything with strength. Sure, I want to be an Obelisk Blue but that title is just a stepping stone for my true goal! If you wanna be strong, do it yourself and don't give a damn about what others told you to do! So stop whining like a baby. If you wanna prove that you're strong, then win against me!"

The boy was silent. He then nodded, "I'll keep dueling. Draw!" He quickly played the card he drew, "I use Cyber Hell Hound's effect by discarding this card," He discarded the Cyber Hell Hound into the graveyard and grabbed two more cards from his makeshift deck, "To add two Cyber Hell Hounds to my hand!"

Tsubaki called out, "Those are the Dynast's cards!"

Izumi remarked, "So it's true, the Dynast did get his cards stolen."

The boy played another card, "Then I play this magic card, Monster Reincarnation!" [**S2**] The magic card showed itself on the Field with its classic picture of a sacred symbol with wings, "I discard one card to add Cyber Dragon to my hand!" He quickly discarded one card while grabbing Cyber Dragon, "Then according to Cyber Dragon's effect, I can special summon it!" The mechanical dragon appeared on the Field again, "And now that I have two Cyber Hell Hounds in the Graveyard, I can use its effect to return one to my Hand and special summons the other!" He grabbed one card and added it to his Hand, "Arise, Cyber Hell Hound!" [**M5 (5/2000/1700)**] Another mechanical creature was summoned to the field in form of a black hell dog, "And because Cyber Hell Hound was special summoned this way, it gained 400 ATK!" [**Cyber Hell Hound: 2000 + 400 = 2400**]

"Incredible!" Jim complimented as he stared at the monsters with awe, "Never before you see two different Cyber creatures on the Field!" The black mechanical dog roared next to its ally, the gray mechanical dragon, who shrilled at the same time.

"Yeah but," Tsubaki pointed out, "not one of them can defeat Yuki's monster unless that Hell Hound commit suicide but then there's also that face-down card."

Alexander smiled, "But that boy has not normal summon yet."

The boy continued, "I sacrifice both of them to summon Ancient Gear Golem!" [**M6 (8/3000/3000)**] He slammed the card down on his Duel Disk as a huge mechanical robot arose appeared behind the boy. It was a giant robotic golem made of entirely of clockwork gears that made whirring sounds as it gave off steam power, showing off its magnificent strength.

Izumi gaped, "A monster with 3000 ATK?"

Alexander looked up, "Ancient Gear Golem, a super rare card indeed. I heard a Professor in Duel Academia has a deck that was solely based on that card."

"Even more wonderful!" Jim's eye wavered out of amazement.

Tsubaki glanced at Jim with a tiny sweat droplet dripping down the side of his head, "Is all Ra Yellow weird?"

Rad laughed, "Heh, is something wrong with that?"

The boy yelled, "Ancient Gear Golem! Attack Radiant Knight! Ancient Pound!" The golem took a heavy step forward as it headed for its target. It held its right arm back and then delivered a powerful straight punch that crushed the warrior of light into smithereens.

**Kurai: 6400 – 600 = 5800. Boy: 1600.**

Kurai held his arm up as he braced the shower of digital bits. He quickly pressed a S/T button, "I activate a trap card, Hired Mercenary!" [**T1**] His face-down card flipped up, showing the picture of a swordsman charging and a Greedy Goblin cowering, "When my E-Merc monster is destroyed, I can special summon a Lv. 4 or lower E-Merc monster from my deck. For this special occasion, I special summon E-Merc Ice Monk!" [**M7 (4/1200/800)**] Ice erupted on the field and shattered to reveal a muscular man with ice blue skin tone. He wore a black monk pants with blue rope belt around his waist. He only wore an opened black karate vest with tore sleeves, revealing his muscular chest and arms. He also wore orange prayer beads around his neck and black bandages wrapped tightly around his wrists. He had white spiky hair along with black headband with a painting of an orange eye on the center around his eyes, "And when Ice Monk is alone on the Field, I can draw two cards!" He drew two cards.

"I place one card face down. Turn end!" The boy finished as he inserted one card, making a face-down card appeared in front of the giant golem.

"All those monsters the boy just summoned," Alexander pointed out, "are machine type."

Izumi proclaimed, "I'm guessing that he like machines then?"

Alexander smiled, "It would make sense because little boys are often fond of action figures or mechanical toys."

"Draw!" Kurai drew his card and added to his increasing number of cards in his Hand, "I play a magic card, Silent Doom!" [**S3**] His magic card contained a picture of a yellow energy rising to the palm of a hand, "With this card, I can revive a normal monster in defense. So I revive E-Merc Tempest Lady." A yellow pillar shone on the Field as the winged woman rose from her grave.

Izumi exclaimed, "Alright! Yuki is gonna fusion summon!"

Kurai announced, "I sacrifice both Tempest Lady and Ice Monk!"

Izumi had a large sweat drop on her forehead, "Or not…?"

Tsubaki was surprised, "That's weird. Usually with his super luck, you think he could have fusion summon already."

Rad agreed, "That's true but I'm excited to see what kinda monster he's summoning with two tributes."

Both monsters on Kurai's Field disappeared as a bright sphere took their place. Kurai slammed the card down on his Duel Disk, "To summon E-Merc Force Vanquisher!" [**M8 (7/2200/2600)**] The sphere shot out blue lightning as it was overloading. It suddenly exploded into a bright flash that soon receded and showed a powerful young warrior wielding a huge wide mechanical claymore that was tall as him with a dark orb at the center and a neon blue blade. The vanquisher wore black muscular chest armor with curved white lines down the center and at the edges and teal upper chest armor plates above it. He also wore teal side waist armors with black belts hanging at the sides and black might shoulder pads with teal curved plates above it. His black greaves were designed the same way with white lines straight down the center with teal plates on the middle. Finally, he wore teal bracers and dark helmet with sharp teal curved wings with white edges on the sides that covered his eyes, "When Force Vanquisher is in attack position, your monsters' ATK will get weaken by 100 times their level. Force Vanquisher, Gravity Pull!"

The black orb on the warrior's claymore glowed, causing the blade to suddenly snap open. It displayed blue energies gathering between the opened blades and then it quickly unleashed a powerful gravity wave toward the boy's Field. The golem's gears started to slow down until it made a cracking sound, causing the giant to fell on its knee. [**Ancient Gear Golem: 3000 – 800 = 2200**]

The boy watched the powerhouse fell but he quickly looked back toward Kurai, "Even if it's weakened, our ATK power is still the same!"

"Not anymore," Kurai countered, "I play an equipment card, Power Pickaxe!" [**S4**] His new magic card showed up on the field and disappeared as an orange pickaxe with exhaust pipes came out on the Field, "And I equip it to Force Vanquisher," The pickaxe flew toward the warrior and fused with claymore, forming a large blade lance with an orange glow, "Once per turn, I can use the Power Pickaxe's effect to remove a monster card with the level equal or less than the equipped monster from your Graveyard. That beast has that annoying Graveyard effect, so I'll remove Cyber Hell Hound!" The vanquisher held his lance blade high and then stabbed it to the ground. An afterimage of a black machine dog appeared on the Field with an orange blade stabbed through it and then shattered away, "By doing this, my monster gain 500 ATK until the End Phase." [**E-Merc Force Vanquisher: 2200 + 2500 = 2700**]

Izumi's wide eyes shook in amazement as she continued to stare in awe, "Yuki is amazing, even without Fusion!"

"Heh," Jim tipped his hat, "The thief boy is not bad but the Dark Boy is better!"

Tsubaki averted his head toward Jim with a soft glare, "Oh sureeee, Yuki get to have Dark Boy while I'm stuck with FLOWER Boy? Huuuuuuuuuh?"

Jim laughed, "But that's what your name means!"

Tsubaki groaned, "Why do my parents have to choose that name?"

Rad smiled, "Aw, cheer up, buddy. I like your name!"

Alexander smiled too, "Likewise."

Tsubaki sulked more, "I don't wanna hear that from the likes of you guys."

Kurai ordered, "Force Vanquisher, destroy that Ancient Gear Golem! Gravity Drive!" The warrior soared across the Field to the golem's height. He then held his lance blade forward and pierced through the golem's body entirely as he showed up behind the robot, which now had a round hole in its chest. He flew back as the robot exploded into broken gears. The boy held his duel disk above him to shield himself from falling parts.

**Kurai: 5800. Boy: 1600 – 500 = 1100.**

Kurai continued, "Also, when Force Vanquisher attacked, he switches to defense mode." The vanquisher stabbed the lance blade in front of him. The orb on the blade flashed again as it formed a transparent shield around the mercenary. Kurai set another card, "I also set two cards face down. Turn end!" Two set cards materialized behind the vanquisher.

"Kuri! Kuri!" Yami Kuriboh flapped his wings to congratulate his master.

Kurai groaned as he looked away, "Can't you just go away?"

The boy looked down at his Hand filled with two Cyber Hell Hounds, Jinzo, and other rare cards he couldn't use. He gritted his teeth as he cursed his luck. He shouted, "I don't wanna lose! Draw!" He drew his card and looked at it. He then activated it right away, "I'll start anew with this card, Hand Destruction!" [**S5**] Both of them discarded their hand and drew the same number of cards. The boy looked at his Hand again and his eyes widened in great shock, "Heh," The boy spoke happily, "I guess I'm really lucky now." He pointed his finger at Kurai, "Kurai Yuki, this will be the end for you!"

Kurai just stared at the boy as he was a little idiot. He then rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Jeeze, how many times have I heard that?"

"Well…" Alexander was about to answer, "About…"

Kurai glared back with his forehead vein twitching, "Shut up!"

Alexander laughed, "What can I say, Yuki? Lot of people just wants to defeat you and then beat you to pulp."

Kurai just glared without saying anything and turned his head back to the Duel.

The boy declared, "I summon Cyber Dragon Zwei!" [**M9 (4/1500/1000)**] A long serpentine dragon made of metal plates. It had golden lines decorated its head and a hook with three claws for its tail. It was far prettier and slimmer than the original Cyber Dragon but its power was not par with it, "By revealing a Spell card, this card's name will be Cyber Dragon!" He selected it and showed a magic card with a picture of robed man trying to draw a card with his arm under a guillotine, "I revealed the Treasure of Slashing Life [**S5**] and then activate it! I can draw until I have 5 cards and then during my 5th Standby phase, I have to discard my Hand." He drew three more cards and his smile grew wider as he had a good draw.

Jim whistled out loud as he was impressed, "That's one rare Magic Card."

Tsubaki affirmed, "I know! It's a legendary card used by Kaiba!"

Izumi blinked, "Didn't Domon Yaku owns that card?"

Rad nodded, "Yep, it's Domon's rare card!"

"Indeed, Domon used it against Yuki awhile ago," Alexander sighed in content, "that was a wonderful memory especially when Izumi was…"

Izumi blushed intensely out of embarrassment and yelled, "Alex! Don't bring that up again! I don't wanna remember it!" She shuddered, "That was horrifying!"

Tsubaki asked, "Are you sure Domon didn't take your…?" Izumi punched him in the face before he even finished it.

Izumi twitched with her shaking clenched fist that had smoke coming out, "I'm sure!"

The boy continued with his turn, "I now then play Polymerization!" [**S6**] He showed a holographic version of the card he announced.

Izumi was stunned, "He's actually going to fuse first before Yuki? I didn't think that would happen!"

Tsubaki put his hand above his eyes as he took a closer look, "It's a holographic card."

"Really?" Jim exclaimed, "A holographic Polymerization? You only see that card from the very first set of Duel Monsters before it was reprinted in Common."

"That's right…but," Tsubaki lowered his hand, "I felt like I seen that card so many times before…" His eyes increased in realization, "Wait, can it be…"

Alexander stopped smiling, "Oh dear." He interrupted Tsubaki.

Tsubaki looked at Alexander, "You're not smiling, that's rare."

Alexander explained, "That's because he just used Polymerization. He's going to fusion summon one of the most powerful monsters of all."

Rad questioned, "Which is?"

Alexander answered differently, "He just summoned Cyber Dragon Zwei and then used its effect to change its name to Cyber Dragon…why?"

Jim's eye widened in excitement, "To fusion summon…"

"I fuse Cyber Dragon Zwei on the Field," The boy pointed to his dragon as it swirled into a portal, "And two Cyber Dragons in my hand to fusion summon Cyber End Dragon!" **[M10 (10/4000/2800)**] He held the card high up as a huge lightning struck the Field, revealing a magnificent machine. A three headed Cyber Dragon with its thick chrome plated body and a generator core in the center. It had two long serpentine tails with two shining metallic wings. On the joint of those wings, there was a blue core. People would say that the Cyber End Dragon was the future version of King Ghidorah, the archenemy of Godzilla.

"Wow!" Jim shouted excitedly, "Wonderful!"

Izumi complained, "Wonderful? How is that wonderful for Yuki?"

Kurai looked down with his brown eyes hidden by his bangs. Yami Kuriboh looked at him with concerns, "Kuri?"

Izumi noticed his downward gaze, "Yuki…?" Kurai's body was quivering, "Is…he scared?"

"No," Tsubaki knew what he was feeling, "He's not scared…" He gulped, "He's pissed."

Izumi averted her eyes to Tsubaki, "Eh, he's mad? For what?"

Tsubaki answered, "I thought I seen that card before and now I know…it was Yuki's rare card." Izumi gasped.

Kurai continued looking down as he closed his eyes. He remembered a fond memory from his childhood.

* * *

"AH!" The young blue-haired boy fell down on his bottom after a hologram nearly knocked him out. He whimpered as he just watched his Life Points decreased to 0. He whined, "Aw man, I lost again! I'll never win."

"Don't say that, I'm sure you'll win one day!" The brown-haired boy held his index and middle fingers together and put them forward in a pose, "But that was a great game!"

The blue-haired boy pouted, "Yeah, for you because you win all the time. I'm never gonna win." He hugged his knees and hid his face between them as he looked like he was going to cry.

"Aww," The brown-haired boy rubbed the back of his head as he felt bad, "don't cry."

"I'm not crying!" The blue-haired boy sniffled.

The brown-haired boy scratched his cheek as he could hear faint sniffling coming from him. He felt worse but then he had an idea. He quickly grabbed a card from his small Duel Disk. He walked up to the other boy, "Here!"

"Hmm?" The blue-haired boy looked up. His brown eyes were little wet with fresh tears but it then increased in shock as he saw a holographic card in the brown haired boy's hand.

The brown-haired boy grinned as he rubbed his finger above his lips, "Heh. Heh. You can have this. So cheer up!"

The blue-haired boy was surprised. He then swayed his head, "I can't take it! You need that card!"

The brown-haired boy laughed, "It's okay! Beside there's a Common edition, so I can get it in any card store if I want," He crouched down while holding the card above his bended knees, "But this one is special."

"Special?" The blue-haired boy asked.

The brown-haired boy nodded, "Yeah! It's a lucky card! That's why it's super rare! With this card, I bet…nah, I know you can win with this card!" He grinned with a toothy smile, "So take it!"

The blue-haired boy looked down, "But…if it's a rare card, then the more reason you should keep it."

The brown-haired boy pouted, "If you don't take it," He looked away, "I'm not gonna play with you anymore."

"Eh?" The blue-haired boy cried.

The brown-haired boy crossed his arms, "I'm serious."

The blue-haired boy cried as he waved his arms frantically, "No way!" He grabbed the brown-haired boy's shoulders and shook him, "I don't want you to ignore me!" He then sobbed.

The brown-haired boy glanced back at him, "I'm kidding." He smiled warmly, "I'll never stop playing with you."

"Really?" The blue-haired boy asked to make sure.

"Positive!" The brown-haired boy exclaimed and he offered his card, "Now really, take it."

The blue-haired boy stared at the card. He didn't want to take such a precious card but if the other boy kept insisting…He smiled slightly, "…fine…" He took the card.

* * *

Kurai's eyes snapped open. He clenched his fist tightly as his arm shook with rage, "You little goddamn bastard…"

"Ehh?" The green-haired boy stopped smiling as he became scared.

"Oh ho, ho, ho…" Kurai chuckled evilly, "You got guts…" He suddenly looked up with the fiercest glare ever, "To use my damn rare card!" His amber eyes flashed angrily.

Yami Kuriboh flew backward in fright, "Kuri! Kuri!"

The boy cried as he felt even more scared of the anger projected in Kurai's eyes.

Kurai declared, "Finish your damn turn already." He slowly raised his right arm and pointed to the boy, "Because I'm gonna finish you soon!"

The boy whined out loud. He was having a panic attack but he quickly calmed himself down as he reminded himself that in hope that Kurai won't kill him if he wins. He looked back, "I won't lose…I won't lose….I won't lose! Cyber End Dragon!" The three-headed dragon roared at his command, "Attack E-Merc Force Vanquisher! Eternal Evolution Burst!" The dragon roared and opened their mouths as they gathered power. Then they fired a huge burst of prism breath toward the defending warrior.

"I won't let you! Trap card activates! Negate Attack!" [**T2] **His face down card quickly flipped up and set up a powerful barrier that swallowed the dragon's prism breath, "I also activate my other face-down card Emergency Provisions!" [**S7**] His card revealed tin cans, package, and crackers, "By sending magic or trap cards on my Field to the Graveyard, I can gain 1000 Life points for each one. I chose Negate Attack as my target, chaining it." The trap card shattered but the barrier still remained. His magic card vanished as Kurai gained more Life Points.

**Kurai: 5800 + 1000 = 6800. Boy: 1100.**

The boy cursed silently, "Even if I can't win this turn, I can still do a lot of damage to you! I play Instant Magic card, De-Fusion!" [**S8**] The powerful monster disappeared into a portal and came out two Cyber Dragons and one Cyber Dragon Zwei, all three of them in defensive positions, "I also have two Cyber Hell Hounds in the Graveyard, thanks to Hand Destruction. So I return one to my hand to special summon Cyber Hell Hound!" The black robotic dog jumped onto the Field and howled loudly as it gained its power boost but it wasn't necessary for the boy's next move, "Then I activate my trap card, Bomb Blast!" [**T3**] His face down card flipped up, showing a picture of three D.D. Scout Planes in fire soaring across cyberspace, "By sending three machine type monsters that does not battle, I can do damage to you equal to the combined levels of monsters I chose times 400!" Kurai's eyes widened in surprise, "I chose Cyber Dragons and Cyber Hell Hound!"

Izumi gaped, "The combined levels times 400? That's a powerful trap card!"

Tsubaki counted his fingers, "Cyber Dragon is five Stars and Cyber Hell Hound is also five…um…"

Alexander answered, "Fifteen stars."

Rad spoke, "Which means…"

Jim finished, "Dark Boy is gonna receive 6000 damage. Talk about a deathblow!"

Izumi shouted, "Yuki!"

The three dragons took up flight and dived toward Kurai with flames surrounding their bodies. As the dragons reached contact, many explosions consumed Kurai and nearly covered the entire Field. Kurai cursed loudly as he braced himself through it.

**Kurai: 6800 – 6000 = 800. Boy: 1100.**

"Cyber Dragon Zwei can't destroy Force Vanquisher but this one will!" The boy played another card that had a picture of a recycling plant, "I play Recycling Plant! [**S9**] This magic card allow me to remove machine type fusion materials from the Graveyard to fusion summon a monster!"

Izumi panicked, "That means…"

Tsubaki replied, "He's gonna summon Cyber End Dragon again!"

The boy removed three cards from the Graveyard slot, "I remove three Cyber Dragons!" He held the card high up again, "To fusion summon Cyber End Dragon once more!" A powerful thunderbolt struck behind the boy again as the three-headed dragon appeared again with majestic roars, "I end my turn."

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "That was a lucky move," He glanced at his Force Vanquisher in defense, "When Force Vanquisher is in defense during my Draw Phase, instead of drawing, I can return an E-Merc monster and Polymerization from the Graveyard to my Hand but that's useless if I don't have Polymerization, so I'll draw!" He drew the card. He took a quick glance and then played it right away, "I play Graceful Charity!" [**S10**] An angel appeared behind Kurai to give her blessing, "I can draw three cards and discard two cards!" He drew three cards and his eyes narrowed on a specific card, "Heh, it seemed you're not the only one with luck." He discarded two cards, "First, I'll switch Force Vanquisher into Attack mode," The vanquisher picked up his lance blade and held it high as he activated the gravity shockwave.

**Cyber End Dragon: 4000 – 1000 = 3000.**

**Cyber Dragon Zwet: 1500 – 400 = 1100. **

"Second, I'll activate Power Pickaxe's effect. I'll remove your second Cyber Hell Hound!" The vanquisher stabbed the blade into the ground, destroying the transparent form of the second Cyber Hell Hound. He then gained his 500 ATK boost again. [**E-Merc Force Vanquisher: 2200 + 500 = 2700**]

"Third, I'll begin my battle phase! Force Vanquisher, pierce Cyber Dragon Zwei with Gravity Drive!" The vanquisher held his lance blade toward the smaller dragon. He then dashed forward and thrust his lance through the dragon, destroying it but the boy doesn't lose any Life Points as his dragon was in defense, "Finally, I play Double Spell! [**S11**] His new magic card had a picture of a two wizards facing each other as they combined their magic spheres, "By discarding one Magic card, I can activate a magic card from your Graveyard!"

The boy's eyes widened in surprise, "That means…"

Izumi gasped with excitement, "That means…"

Alexander just chuckled as he swayed his head, "Heh."

Tsubaki cheered as he raised his arm high, "Go for it, Yuki! Fusion Time!"

Rad cheered too, "Yeah!"

"I discard Fusion Recovery!" Kurai clenched his fist, "Now to take back what belongs to me…" He unclenched his fist and stretched his palm toward the boy's duel Disk, "I'll activate Polymerization! I'll fuse E-Merc Shadow Sage!" [**M12 (5/1600/1800)**] A young violet-skinned and white-haired black mage showed up on the Field with his burnt black wood staff, "And E-Merc Force Vanquisher to fusion summon!" The sage transformed into black energy waves that were absorbed into the Force Vanquisher, making the armored warrior completely black. It suddenly melted down like black ooze and spread out on the Field. The boy tried to jump away from the ooze, forgetting that it was just a hologram. Then slowly, a black double-door gateway rose from the ground in front of Kurai. The gateway had many silver chains that sealed the doors. Suddenly, the locks dropped one by one, allowing the gates to slowly open. Once it was opened all the way, it showed a tall thin man with pale gray skin. He doesn't wear armors like other mercenaries before him but he wouldn't need it. He only wore a sleeveless black hooded trench jacket with purple edges with tears all over it as it was worn down over dark prison pants. He was bare footed and bare handed. What's surprising about this mercenary that he had dark iron handcuffs, forcing his fists next to each other, and attached to those handcuffs was a large black iron ball that was nearly half the size of him. It was there to prevent him from escaping. Kurai spoke his name, "E-Merc Sinner of Dark Hollow." [**(8/2200/1800)**]

Izumi commented, "That mercenary looked so gloomy…is he a prisoner?"

The boy repeated, "Sinner of Dark Hollow?"

Kurai smirked, "That's right. He's a sinner because he's an incredibly powerful mercenary with an overwhelming gift of darkness. Anyone who sees or touches him regardless of friend or foe all perished instantly in his wake. Eventually, his kill count was so high that he was sentenced to an unbreakable prison at the deepest level of a dark abyss. But for today," He raised his hand to the boy, "He can come out and play." He suddenly clicked his fingers. At the same time, the handcuffs came loose. The prisoner looked down at his hands that were now free. He immediately looked up toward the Cyber End Dragon with white eyes that suddenly glowed under his black hood.

The boy became nervous, "Wha-what do you mean come and play? You just ended your Battle Phase and now at Main Phase 2! How can this guy do something?"

"It's already started," Kurai replied, "His effect began when the Sinner is summoned," The prisoner suddenly clenched his fists tightly as purple tattoo patterns appeared all over his body. Kurai whispered, "All monsters on the Field are destroyed." The prisoner screamed loudly as his dark auras were spreading violently from his body. His fearsome power suddenly created an explosion that turned everything and everyone including bystanders black and white. The Cyber End Dragon and the gates to the abyss just dissolved away into black dust as the silent eerie winds blew. The colors were then restored back to the Field as the Sinner had disappeared entirely.

Tsubaki gaped, "That was…scary! It has a Dark Hole effect?"

Jim gaped too, "Wow! So that's his Fusion monster? Incredible!"

Kurai chuckled slightly, "Now the Field is entirely empty and the rest is up to luck now. The only card in your Hand is Cyber Hell Hound which you can't summon without a tribute and the only card in my hand is Exchange of Blood Vows, [**S12**] a magic card that can't deal damage to you. I only have 800 Life Points, all you need is Lv.4 or less monster with ATK higher than that. You have 1100 Life Points, I only have five Lv. 4 monsters that has higher ATK. Those are Flame Berserker, Wood Elf Archer, Steel Cutter, Ice Monk, and Bolt Assassin." He scoffed, "You were lucky when you activated Hand Destruction because you sent three of those monsters to the Graveyard and Ice Monk was already there. All I have left is Flame Berserker." He held his duel disk up to show his deck, "I still have lot of cards left, so what are the odds of me getting Flame Berserker." He narrowed his eyes coldly, "So let's see who has the better luck. Turn end."

Izumi clasped her hands in prayer, "Yuki…"

Jim crossed his arms as he couldn't take his eye off the duel, "It all comes down to who gets the last shot."

Tsubaki scoffed, "Ha…Yuki will get that card…you'll see…..." He looked at Kurai's back, "I know he will."

The boy's eyes shook with fear. His hand was shaking as he was scared to draw. He stopped his shaking hand with his other hand, _'Wait, why am I scared? It's just like he said…all I need is a monster that can beat him! Plus I have much higher chances of getting it than him…I just need to draw and win…' _He reached for the card but he then looked up to Kurai. His eyes widened in shock as Kurai just stood there, showing no fear in his eyes, _'This guy…how can he not be scared? I have a higher chance than him! Damnit…I don't want to lose!' _He drew the top card and his eyes increased again, _'It's…not a monster…' _He gulped as he set that card face down, "I set one card down and I end my turn."

"Draw!" Kurai narrowed his eyes and smirked, "Heh…" He played it right away, "I summon E-Merc Flame Berserker!" A burst of fire exploded on the Field and cleared as it showed a tall orange-skinned muscular warrior wielding a broadsword over his shoulder.

Jim gasped, "He got the luck of a devil!"

Tsubaki grinned, "I told you so!"

Izumi and Rad just clasped each other's hands as they cheered together.

Kurai shouted, "Flame Berserker! Attack that kid directly!" The warrior ran across the field as he dragged the sword along with him. He then was about to slash the boy from below but…

The boy yelled, "Trap card activates! Mirror Force!" His face down card flipped itself, revealing the classic picture of a white barrier deflected red lasers.

Tsubaki's eyes widened in horror, "No…way!"

Alexander narrowed his eyes seriously, "Mirror Force, the legendary staple Trap card, the notoriously famous card of the Duel King."

"Eh?" Izumi spoke in surprise.

The boy narrowed his yellow eyes, "I may not have your devil's luck of getting a monster card but this card is good enough. I think you already know the effects of this card!" His trap card shot out red lightning bolts that pulverized Kurai's lone monster.

Kurai narrowed his eyes into intense glare.

The boy continued, "Also, you said that was the sole monster you need to win. Now that monster is destroyed. All you can do is wait for me to draw a monster."

"Tch, turn end." Kurai ended.

"Draw!" The boy drew the top card and he looked at it. He smirked, "Heh. You ask whose lucky? Clearly, I'm the one who's lucky because I summon X-Head Cannon!" [**M14 (4/1800/1500)**] Particles of light gathered and formed a blue robot floating with its sphere as its lower half. It had two tall bulky arms and two long cannons on its shoulder sockets, "Your field is wide empty, so I can take away your remaining Life Points. X-Head Cannon! Direct Attack!" The robot aimed its twin cannons toward Kurai and shot fire directly.

Izumi gasped, "Oh no!"

Kurai's eyes widened in concerns combined with shock. But then he smirked. A devil-winged puffball suddenly flew in front of him and formed a black wall around his master. This time, everyone could see the furry creature.

The boy was stunned, "Wha-what?"

Izumi recognized the monster, "Yami Kuriboh!" [**M15 (1/300/200)**]

Kurai's Duel Disk ejected a card from the Graveyard slot, allowing him to grab it and showed it to his opponent, "By removing Yami Kurbioh from the Graveyard, I can reduce the Battle Damage to zero this turn. So your attack is useless!"

"Yami Kuriboh?" The boy asked, "When did you discarded that?"

Kurai stated it obviously, "With Graceful Charity, duh."

Yami Kuriboh floated happily as it was gloating, "Kuri! Kuri! Kuri!"

Kurai's forehead vein twitched as he was annoying with the creature's mini victory, "Shut up." He then smirked evilly, "Now, should we try again?"

The boy gulped, "Why are you so confident for? You have no monsters left in your deck that are strong enough to beat X-Head Cannon unless you have a high level monster!"

Kurai nodded, "That's true but I do have high-level monsters in the Graveyard. So I just need a reviving card."

The boy could only curse himself silently as he failed to defeat him and his fate relied on luck again. He took a large gulp, "Turn…end."

"Draw!" Kurai drew the top card without even looking at it. The others watched with anticipation as they all wondered if he's lucky again. Kurai slowly peeked at the card he drew, "…tch…" He then showed a magic card of an old man, "It's only Fusion Sage." [**S13**]

Izumi was shocked, "No…no way…Yuki…lost again?"

Tsubaki shouted, "Yuki!"

Kurai cursed as he looked down, "And I have no card to protect myself the next turn."

Rad blinked, "So, seriously, Yuki is gonna lose here?"

"He might not…" Jim suggested, "If he hasn't purposely revealed his two Magic cards in his hand, he could have set one down and fool his opponent to thinking it was a trap card." He shrugged, "It's too bad but it was an awesome duel!"

The boy couldn't believe his eyes. All he had to do is draw and attack with X-Head Cannon. Then he would have won. He chuckled and then slowly celebrated, "I can't believe it! I did it! I won against Kurai Yuki! Ha, I'm the lucky one!"

"Heh." Alexander scoffed. He then laughed out loud, surprising the others.

"Alex?" Izumi was confused at his action.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "Did he just turn nuts?"

Alexander smiled, "I'm already nuts to begin with. Yuki…when are you gonna stop playing around?"

"Eh?" Tsubaki and Izumi blinked.

"Tch," Kurai gave Alexander a stern look and then he looked back at the boy, "Whoever said you won?"

"What?" The boy questioned.

Kurai crossed his arms, "True, you are luckier than me, I'll give you that. I do believe in luck…but…" He narrowed his eyes angrily, "I'll be damned if I rely on it all the time!" He stretched his hand to the Field, "E-Merc Sinner of Dark Hollow, it's time to come back!"

"What?" The boy shouted in surprise.

"At the start of my Main Phase," Kurai explained as a familiar gateway with chains slowly rose back to the Field, "after a certain number of standby phases, the Sinner can return back to my Field."

"A certain number?" The boy asked.

Kurai explained more, "That number is the same number of monsters destroyed by the Sinner including himself. One, Cyber End Dragon." He held up one finger, "Two, himself." He held up two fingers, "Two of my Standby phases must pass before he's allowed to return."

The boy's eyes widened as he remembered something, "So that's you purposely destroyed Cyber Dragon Zwei with Force Vanquisher, so you didn't need to wait three Standby Phases if the Sinner destroys them all!"

"Yeah, you're right," Kurai smirked and then shouted, "E-Merc Sinner of Dark Hollow! Free yourself!" The chains broke as the double doors opened again, revealing a familiar prisoner that was once again shackled with his handcuffs attached to a large dark iron ball, "Fortunately, his full power only worked when he's fusion-summoned but his restrained power will be good enough to defeat your robot."

The boy countered, "Even if you destroy X-Head Cannon, I'll still have Life Points left."

Kurai retorted, "Not unless I use this card! Remember?" He showed a magic card with a picture of two young warriors clasping each other hands in a scared bloody vow.

Tsubaki chuckled, "You don't see that card since his duel with Professor Tyrell."

Alexander smiled, "I knew he would win."

Izumi pouted, "Jeeze, Yuki! You nearly scared us!"

"I activate Blood of Exchange Vows. By paying up to 1000 Life Points, I can increase one monster's ATK by that amount. I pay up to 700 Life Points!" Kurai declared as blood red energy waves was floating away from his Duel Disk as his Life Points decreased.

**Kurai: 800 – 700 = 100. Boy: 1100.**

Kurai gestured to his mercenary, "And increase the Sinner's ATK by 700!" The prisoner glowed in blood red aura as his ATK increased. [**E-Merc Sinner of Dark Hollow: 2200 + 700 = 2900**]

The boy just stood there with his body quavering in great fear as he knew what was going to happen next.

Kurai commanded, "E-Merc Sinner of Dark Hollow! Attack him X-Head Cannon with Dark Misfortune!" The prisoner suddenly used all his strength to pull the chained ball high into the sky. The heavy iron ball then fell straight down due to gravity. As the ball was about to touch the ground, the prisoner's fists glowed purple and he immediately thrust both of his palms forward to send the iron ball flying toward the boy. The boy could only watch in horror at the coming weapon. The ball smashed the robot completely into bits but it continued to plow forward. The child screamed as he fell to the ground after the heavy iron ball collided with him.

**Kurai: 100. Boy: 1100 – 1100 = 0.**

Rad yelled happily, "Yuki won!"

Izumi clapped her hands, "Alright, Yuki!"

Alexander just closed his eyes as he knew the result, "Heh, he did it."

Jim commented, "Dark Boy is really amazing. He lost his valuable card that is the strength of his deck but he still managed to overcome that by beating Cyber End Dragon and manipulated his opponent's Field." He smiled, _'Heh, I knew he would be interesting since he was the first one who entered the ruins..'_

Tsubaki just watched his friend without saying anything, _'Yuki…he's really strong…looking at him now…just reminded me how much I need to do to become strong as him…Yuki…I will reach you!' _

The boy looked down as he just couldn't believe that he lost after being so close to winning. He then hiccupped as he knew what was going to happen next if his crimes were going to be reported. He sobbed, "I'm gonna be kicked off the Academy…I don't wanna be kicked off…I just want to be strong like everyone else…" He gasped as Kurai suddenly grabbed his shirt collar and lifted him up so high that his feet couldn't touch the ground.

Kurai glared, "You really put me in deep shit, kid and I don't like that. So I'm gonna hurt you for that."

The boy cried and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…I'm so sorry!"

"Yuki!" Izumi was about to stop him but Alexander grabbed her shoulder.

Kurai held the boy for few seconds as he cried more. He then suddenly dropped him, surprising the boy. The cold duelist looked away with his arms crossed, "I'll tell the stupid principal to go easy on you…since you're not so bad with that makeshift deck."

"…Yuki…" The boy whispered his name. He then started to cry again but for a different reason.

Izumi smiled and then giggled, "Yuki is really not a bad guy after all."

Alexander just chuckled in agreement while Tsubaki scoffed in denial but he agreed secretly too.

* * *

At the outskirts of the Duel Academia, Judai was just finishing his duel with Kagurazaka who used Yugi Mutou's legenedary deck. It was a hard duel but with Judai's belief and miracle luck, he prevailed and won.

Judai closed his left eye and did his signature gesture, "Gotcha! What a fun duel!"

Kagurazaka looked down in disbelief, "I lost…" He fell to his knees and hands. His hands quivered as Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, and Kuriboh cards fell out of his Duel Disk one by one, "I was using this strong deck, yet I couldn't win…?" He closed his eyes as he was frustrated with himself, "I really have no talent at all!"

"No, that's not true." The others heard a familiar female voice. They looked to see Asuka and Ryo walking out of their hiding spots.

Kagurazaka looked up with a shocked face, "Kaiser…"

Sho was surprised too, "Onii-san!"

Judai asked, "Asuka, why are you here?"

Ryo answered first, "We also wanted to see the deck faster tonight."

Asuka spoke next, "When we arrived in the display room, the case had been broken, and the deck was gone. While we were searching for it, we found you all."

"We were gonna stop it, but…" Ryo said and then he smiled slightly, "we would have regretted if we stopped the duel."

Misawa agreed, "That's true."

Judai complained, "Oi, Oi! You left me dueling him desperately by myself!"

Ryo admitted, "To be truthful, we weren't the only ones watching you guys." He and Asuka looked back, making Judai and the others looked in the same direction as them. They were surprised to see many other students all over the place, who were watching the duel.

The students started clapping for such an incredible duel. A Ra Yellow student who previously criticized Kagurazaka rubbed his head in embarrassment, "No, that was a really awesome duel."

The other Ra Yellow student, who also criticized Kagurazaka before, complimented, "We learned a lot from watching you!"

Kagurazaka couldn't believe his ears, "Guys…"

Ryo spoke, "It's true we can't forgive anyone who would hoard another's Deck to themselves," He closed his eyes in content, "But the fact that you showed us the power of the Yugi Mutou's deck in battle is truth," He opened his eyes, "Everyone's gonna decide what to do."

The same Ra Yellow student cheered, "We actually got to see the King of Duelists Mutou Yugi's deck in action!"

The other Ra Yellow student praised, "That was amazing, Kagurazaka!"

Kagurazaka couldn't believe that he was worthy of such praises, "But I lost…! Why…?"

Judai looked back at Kagurazaka and answered, "That's easy! It's something you lack that I have!"

Kagurazaka looked up to Judai, "Something I lack?"

Judai rubbed his finger above his lips, "That's the belief in your deck."

Kagurazaka repeated, "Belief in my deck?"

"Indeed that deck is strong!" Judai confirmed, "But the idea of that deck isn't yours! That's why you couldn't win the Duel." He then pondered as he put his finger on his chin, "How should I put it?"

Ryo explained better, "By putting the time and effort into making a deck, you are thus able to believe in it from the bottom of your heart. And that belief one holds as a duelist determines the outcome of a duel in the very last moment. If the real Mutou Yugi had been playing instead in the duel just now, Judai may have lost to that pressure."

"That's good!" Judai agreed with Ryo's explanation, "Yugi-san is the only one able to draw out the real power of that deck. As we agreed, you're gonna return the deck!"

Kagurazaka stood up, "Of course I will."

**Author's note: **After watching this episode 19 again, I never realized that I unconsciously copied Judai's combo at the end of the duel!

* * *

Back at the South Duel Academy, a new day started anew and Principal Kamil was standing in front of the glass window walls in his office. He was staring at a cruise ship that was about to leave.

Professor Morgan walked into his office, "Principal, three days are up. Should we expel Kurai now?"

Kamil sighed, "So anxious to kick him out, huh? I don't see what's so bad about him."

Morgan countered, "He's a troublemaker. Nothing good can come out of troublemaker." She crossed her arms as she stood firm in her belief.

Kamil looked back at her with a tiny sweat droplet on the side, "I see, that's such a shame. As for Kurai, he's not going to be expelled."

"He's not?" Morgan was surprised.

Kamil chuckled, "Nope, he found the culprit."

"Oh…" Morgan didn't hide her disappointment, "if that's the case. Who is the culprit and I'll have that student expelled."

Kamil retorted, "That won't be necessary since our local thief won't be expelled."

"What?" Morgan was stunned, "Are you telling me that we're going to let the criminal go? Absurd!"

Kamil smiled, "But that's what Kurai wanted. Since he found the thief himself, it's only right that he, the head of the Disciplinary Committee, get to decide the thief's punishment. Of course, he decided to let him go on the condition that he returns the cards back to the owner."

Morgan stuttered, "Im-im-imposturous!"

Kamil looked back at the cruise, "But the thief refused to stay. He decided to go back to school and study more."

Morgan blinked and then composed herself, "Is that so? I guess that's appropriate. Who's the thief?"

Kamil answered, "Lucian Soir."

* * *

"Knock, knock." Alexander lightly knocked the opened door as he announced his presence.

Hiroshi looked up from his fancy white painted wooden desk in his grand room, "Alexander, what brings you here?"

Alexander smiled as he walked in, "I came to return your stolen cards."

"Really? I was expecting Kurai to give it back to me." Hiroshi admitted.

Alexander chuckled, "Heh, Yuki is occupied at the moment plus he can't really stand the sight of the duelist who defeated him. Also, it gets me an opportunity to talk to you." He walked up to the deck and handed the cards.

"What do you want to talk about?" Hiroshi took his cards and analyzed them. He narrowed his eyes as something was wrong, "These are not all of them. Where's…" He looked up and he was slightly surprised.

Alexander was holding three Cyber Dragons, Cyber Dragon Zwei, and Cyber End Dragon cards up in his hand, "This is what I wanna talk about, Mr. Dynast," He smiled, "These cards don't belong to you, right?"

Hiroshi smirked, "Heh, that's right. They're actually Kaiser Ryo's prized cards."

Alexander smiled, "I thought so, which leads me to another question. Why are the trump cards of the Kaiser of Duel Academia be doing here?"

Hiroshi answered, "I asked Ryo to lend them to me for this week. I would like to look at them sometimes, you know? They are the prized symbols of our Cyber Style Dojo."

"Oh?" Alexander smiled knowingly, "You made a request for these specific cards after the thief started appearing?"

Hiroshi smiled, "Are you implying something different, Alexander?"

Alexander smiled, "I am. I believed that you knew that Yuki will one day capture this thief to restore his precious name and then challenge him to duel to make the thief give himself up. Knowing that, you purposely set yourself up and let the boy stole your Cyber Hell Hounds and also the Cyber Dragons."

Hiroshi laughed, "That's an interesting assumption."

Alexander questioned, "So my final question to you," He placed the cards down on the desk, "You purposely allowed the boy to steal the powerful Cyber Dragons, knowing that Yuki would grow stronger from this, do you?"

Hiroshi just smirked, "What do you think?"

Alexander smiled back, "Heh, it doesn't matter what I think except that it was an interesting enjoyable experience. It was a fascinating duel after all." He walked away.

"Hyun-Ki came up with the plan, you know." Hiroshi informed. His statement made Alexander looked back at Hiroshi. The Dynast admitted, "I'm not that smart to come up with that sort of thing." He laughed.

Alexander was silent for few seconds. He then chuckled, "Is that so?"

* * *

At the dock, the green-haired boy was walking toward the drawbridge that led to the cruise. He held his backpack and looked back at the others, especially Kurai, "Thank you, Yuki. If you haven't helped me, I would really be expelled."

Kurai crossed his arms and looked away, "Hmph, I only did it to make sure that psycho professor didn't get her way."

Izumi laughed nervously as she knew he was talking about Professor Morgan. She smiled, "Do you really have to go, Lucian? You're allowed to stay here, you know?"

"I still can't believe it!" Tsubaki claimed, "That this kid here is seriously 12! He's not even old enough to be in middle school yet he's here?"

Rad laughed, "He's like some prodigy!"

Lucian chuckled nervously as he scratched his chin, "Um yeah…you could say that…" He clenched his fists and looked up to the teenagers, "But I learned a lot from you guys! I know now that I'm not ready to be a strong duelist, so I'm going back to school to train more. But I'm definitely coming back one day with my own deck!"

Izumi grinned, "You just do that!"

Rad smiled, "We'll still be your friends when you come back."

Tsubaki sighed, "A little kid part of our group? Why not? What's the harm of adding another weirdo?"

Lucian pouted, "I'm not a weirdo!" The ship's horn blew loudly, announcing that it was about to leave, "I gotta go!" He ran up the drawbridge and then leaned over the rail, "Bye and thanks for everything!"

The others waved back at Lucian except Kurai who just watched him with his arms crossed. The cruise ship started to move away.

Lucian cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Yuki! When I come back, I'm gonna call you Onii-sama!"

Kurai blinked in surprise.

Izumi stifled, "Aww…Onee-sama…? Yuki got a little brother!"

Kurai looked away, "Whatever."

Rad blinked, "Is Yuki blushing?" He laughed, "Aww, he's embarrassed!"

Kurai glared at both of them, "I'm not embarrassed!" But the proof was there in a faint blush on his cheeks.

Izumi teased, "Yuki looked so cute when he's embarrassed!"

Rad taunted, "Onii-sama! Onii-sama!"

Kurai's forehead veins started twitching one by one as his blood was boiling. He snapped, "I'm gonna kill you!" They just laughed as they ran away from the angry duelist.

Tsubaki just watched them fooling around. He continued staring at them especially at Kurai. He clenched his fist determinedly, _'I will become stronger.'_

**TBC**

**

* * *

Next Episode Preview**

**Rad: **Wow, wow, wow! That was such a super, awesome, wicked, cool duel!

**Shizuka: **Heh, I see that you're still excited…too bad, I didn't get to see it.

**Rad: **I know, huh? It was so wild! The Dragon! The Sinner!

**Shizuka: **Um, are we supposed to be doing the episode preview?

**Rad: **I don't feel like it…

**Shizuka: **Eh?

**Rad: **Tsubaki is ignoring me lately! He's all serious now!

**Shizuka: **Really? I guess that's because he want to be stronger, right?

**Rad: **Plus not to mention some weird girl showed up all of the sudden!

**Shizuka: **A girl?

**Rad: **Yeah! A girl who claimed to be the Emperor!

**Next Episode Preview: Episode 20 – The Number One Heroine!**

**Rad: **Well in her case, the Empress…

**Shizuka: **Wait a minute! You just did an episode preview!

**

* * *

Card of the Day – Cyber End Dragon**

**Alexander: **A very powerful card indeed. With the right combo, it's capable of making a one turn kill. It's truly an amazing piece of art.

**Tsubaki: **I'll admit it's really cool because of its powerful stats and effect but it's only cool because it's a dragon! Dragons are so popular but my Gem Dragons are the best! Ha!

**Alexander smiled: **Is that so? Then tell me, can you really beat technology with nature?

**Tsubaki**: Eh?

**Alexander smiled: **Cyber End Dragon is created with the most advanced technology of Duel Monsters. You could say that this monster is the pinnacle of all machines. Sure, your dragons are prettier but they are only rocks.

**Tsubaki: **Only rocks? H-h-hey!

**Alexander pointed to Tsubaki dramatically: **Can you really beat mankind's superior technology with the earth's mere mineral crystals?

**Tsubaki sweatdrop**: Um I'm…not really sure…"

**Alexander: **If you want to declare your dragons the best, there's only one thing left to do!

**Tsubaki: **One thing? What is it?

**Alexander: **You must combine nature with machines!

**Tsubaki gasped: **You're right! That's why I should be doing…um Super Ruby Gem Dragon! No…um Mecha Emerald Gem Dragon! No wait….Cyber Sapphire Gem Dragon!

**Alexander smiled: **Of course, I'm just fooling him around.

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 - ****E-Merc Tempest Lady – Wind/Warrior/3/1000/1000**

**M2 – Cyber Dragon – Light/Machine/5/2100/1600: **Effect: If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card from your hand.

**M3 – Jinzo – Dark/Machine/6/2400/1500: **Effect: Trap Cards cannot be activated. The effects of all face-up Trap Cards are negated.

**M4 – E-Merc Radiant Knight – Light/Warrior/6/2400/1800: **Effect: When this monster deals damage to your opponent's Life Points, increase your own Life Points by the same amount.

**M5 – Cyber Hell Hound – Dark/Machine/5/2000/1700: **Effect: During your Main Phase, by discarding this card, add up to 2 "Cyber Hell Hounds" from your Deck to your hand. You can return 1 "Cyber Hell Hound" from your Graveyard to your hand to special summon 1 "Cyber Hell Hound" from your Graveyard to your Field. If you Special Summon this card in this way, it gains 400 ATK.

**M6 – Ancient Gear Golem – Earth/Machine/8/3000/3000: **Effect: This card cannot be Special Summoned. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent. If this card attacks, your opponent cannot activate any Spell or Trap Cards until the end of the Damage Step.

**M7 – E-Merc Ice Monk – Water/Warrior/4/1200/800: **Effect: If this is the only card in your hand, you can Special Summon it. When this card is summoned, you can draw 2 cards if you control no other cards on the field.

**M8 – E-Merc Force Vanquisher – Dark/Warrior/7/2200/2600: **Effect: When this card is in face-up Attack Position, each face-up monster your opponent controls loses 100 ATK x its own Level. If this card attacks, it is changed to Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase. When this card is in face-up Defense position during your Draw Phase, you can add 1 "E-Merc" monster and 1 "Polymerization" from your Graveyard to your hand instead of conducting your normal draw.

**M9 – Cyber Dragon Zwei – Light/Machine/4/1500/1000: **Effect: If this card attacks an opponent's monster, this card gains 300 ATK during the Damage Step only. Once per turn, you can reveal 1 Spell Card in your hand to treat this card's name as "Cyber Dragon" until the End Phase. This card's name is treated as "Cyber Dragon" while in the Graveyard.

**M10 – Cyber End Dragon – Light/Machine – Fusion/10/4000/2800: **Effect: A Fusion Summon of this card can only be conducted with the above Fusion Material Monsters. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

**M12 – E-Merc Shadow Sage – Dark/Warrior/5/1600/1800**: Effect: Activate one of the following effects when this card is sent to the Graveyard:

- From the Deck: You can special summon a monster with "E-Merc" in its name except this one from your Graveyard.

- From the Hand: You can special summon a monster with "E-Merc" in its name from your Hand.

- From the Field: You can special summon two Lv. 4 or lower monsters with "E-Merc" in its name from your Hand or your Graveyard.

**M13 – E-Merc Sinner of Dark Hollow – Dark/Warrior-Fusion/8/2200/1800: **Effect: When this card is fusion-summoned, destroy all monsters on the Field. At start of your Main Phase, return this card, after the number of your standby phases that equal to the number of monsters including this card destroyed by this card's activation, to your Field.

**M14 – X-Head Cannon – Light/Machine/4/1800/1500**

**M15 - ****Yami Kuriboh – Dark/Demon/1/300/200**: Effect: At any time, you can remove Yami Kuriboh from the Graveyard, to reduce Battle Damage or Effect Damage to zero till the End of the turn when this card was removed. You can only use this effect once per game.

**S1 - ****Soaring Whirlwind – Instant Spell**: This card can only be activated if you have a WIND "E-Merc" monster on the field. When your opponent normal summon, flip summon, or special summon a monster whose higher than or equal level to the selected monster's level, return all of your opponent's monsters on the Field back to his/her Hand.

**S2 – Monster Reincarnation – Normal Spell: **Discard 1 card. Add 1 Monster Card from your Graveyard to your hand.

**S3 – Silent Doom – Normal Spell: **Special Summon 1 Normal Monster from your Graveyard in face-up Defense Position. It cannot attack.

**S4 – Power Pickaxe – Equipment Spell: **Once per turn, you can select and remove from play 1 monster in your opponent's Graveyard whose Level is less than or equal to the equipped monster's, and have the equipped monster gain 500 ATK until the End Phase.

**S5 - ****Treasure of Slashing Life – Normal Spell**: Draw cards until you have 5 cards in your hand. During your 5th Standby Phase after activation, send all cards in your hand to the Graveyard.

**S6 - ****Polymerization – Normal Spell**: Send Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a Fusion Monster Card from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck.

**S7 – Emergency Provisions – Quick-play Spell: **Send any number of other Spell and Trap Cards you control to the Graveyard. Gain 1000 Life Points for each card sent.

**S8 – De-Fusion – Quick-play Spell: **Return 1 Fusion Monster on the field to the Extra Deck. In addition, if all the Fusion Material Monsters that were used for the Fusion Summon of that Fusion Monster are in your Graveyard, you can Special Summon them all to the field.

**S9 – Recycling Plant – Normal Spell: **Remove from play, from your side of the field or your Graveyard, Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a Machine-Type Fusion Monster Card, and Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.) At least 1 Fusion Material Monster must be removed from your Graveyard.

**S10 – Graceful Charity – Normal Spell: **Draw 3 cards, then discard 2 cards.

**S11 – Double Spell – Normal Spell:** Discard 1 Spell Card from your hand. Select 1 Spell Card from your opponent's Graveyard and use it from the Graveyard as your Spell Card.

**S12 - Exchange of Blood Vows – Normal Spell**: Pay 1000 Life Points or less in increments of 50, select a monster on the Field and increase the selected monster's ATK points by the same amount you paid with Life Points.

**S13 – Fusion Sage – Normal Spell: **Add 1 "Polymerization" card from your Deck to your hand. Then shuffle your Deck.

**T1 - ****Hired Mercenary – Normal Trap**: This card can only be activated when one of your monster(s) on the field is destroyed as a result of battle. Special summon a monster with [E-Merc] in its name that is Level 4 or lower from your hand or deck.

**T2 – Negate Attack – Counter Trap: **Activate only when an opponent's monster declares an attack. Negate the attack and end the Battle Phase.

**T3 – Bomb Blast – Normal Trap: **Activate only during your turn. Destroy up to 3 Machine-Type monsters you control that have not battled this turn, and inflict damage to your opponent equal to the combined Levels of the destroyed monsters x 400.

**T4 – Mirror Force – Normal Trap: **Activate only when an opponent's monster declares an attack. Destroy all Attack Position monsters your opponent controls.


	37. 20A: The Number One Heroine!

**Author's note: **I felt like I'm getting slower in my updates. But luckily, this chapter is just short enough to maintain my sanity after writing a constant number of 30 to 40 pages per chapter! I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave a review while you're at it! Thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! Credit goes to GLL99 for subs of GX episode 20.

**

* * *

Episode 20: The Number One Heroine!**

**Part A**

Ever since the thief incident had calmed down and the rare cards were returned to their owners, assistances for Kurai Yuki's interventions were back to normal or if possible higher than before. Kurai received so many demands that he started regretting clearing his name and thought to himself that everything would be so much better if he remained framed as thief. Recently, Kurai as the Head of Disciplinary Committee was at one of his demands.

Inside a huge and grand bedroom filled with fancy and traditional furniture and decorations, a beautiful blonde model, Lisa, was tapping her toe with her arms crossed as she was feeling deeply annoyed and impatient. She then pouted, "Why do you have to be here?"

A maroon violet haired girl, Izumi, looked up to Lisa after looking under the claw-footed sofa. She had the same annoyed expression as Lisa, "You know? I asked myself the same question too? Why do I have to be here? In fact, why do we have to be here anyway?" Rad was looking behind the picture frames on the wall and Vanessa was looking under a huge canopy bed.

Lisa sighed annoyingly, "I told you already. There's a giant bug here and I wanted it to be gone from my bedroom before I die of fear!" She placed her hand on her forehead and swooned, "I'm so dreadfully scared of bugs. The mere thought of a bug touching my clear pearl-like skin make me want me to jump into the fire and burn its filthy germs off me."

Izumi rolled her eyes, "Why don't you? It'll make things better for us." She continued to searching around.

Lisa screeched, "I didn't ask you to be here! In fact, why is everyone else here? I specifically asked for Lord Yuki himself!"

Rad laughed, "We're Yuki's friends. We just have to tag along and help him out! Beside, this is kinda fun!" He picked up a handful of panties from a drawer and looked in it, causing Lisa to gasp in shock. Vanessa, being the faithful aide of Lisa, quickly smacked Rad's head from behind and slammed the drawer closed.

"Ouch!" Rad rubbed the back of his head and blinked in confusion, "What did I do?"

Vanessa scolded, "Pervert!" She resumed searching around.

Izumi looked back at Lisa while holding a vase, "You know if you're gonna ask Yuki for help to kill this "bug" in your room," She then pointed dramatically to Kurai just sitting on a chaise chair, eating expensive sushi off a silver tray, "Why aren't you letting him work?"

Lisa looked away with a pout, "Hmph, I was gonna ask Lord Yuki to help me but…," She smirked, "Since you're all here, might as well let you, commoners, do it instead of Lord Yuki."

Izumi stared at her with her right eye twitching and clenched fist shaking, with the blazing fire in the background, "Lisa..you…."

Lisa just immediately went to Kurai's side with her hands clasped together in glee, "Lord Yuki, if there is anything you need and I'll happily get it for you!"

Kurai swallowed the last sushi. He handed the tray without even glancing at her, "More."

Lisa just squealed happily, "Right away, Lord Yuki!"

Izumi snapped with demonic white eyes and sharp teeth, "YUKI, YOU TRAITOR!"

Rad had his finger in his mouth as he looked hungry, "That looked so yummy…Maybe I should get one."

Kurai gave a glare that translated, "Take my sushi and I'll kill you."

Alexander chuckled as he was also here with the group, "Too bad, Radnor, he's never going to let you touch those sushi." He was sitting near a small white dining table with a cup of tea in his hand.

Izumi stared at Alexander with a slight frown of disapproval, "You know, Alex? If you're gonna come with us, why don't you at least help us out instead of just sitting there, drinking tea?"

Alexander smiled, "Oh? All those times we spent together, I thought you would know me so well by now…" He took a sip of tea and placed it down with a wide smile, "that I'm a lazy bastard who enjoyed watching all of you suffer while sitting on my behind, doing nothing."

Izumi just looked at him with complete disbelief. She then dropped her head and sighed, "At least, you were being completely honest now instead of making silly excuse."

Alexander chuckled, "Plus Miss Lisa wouldn't allow me to lift a finger." He glanced at Lisa, "More tea, please."

Lisa smiled with hearts coming out of her, "Right away, Lord Von Schroeder!"

Izumi complained, "Now, you're just mocking us!'

Rad pouted after looking inside the shelf, "Hey, how come I don't see Tsubaki here?"

Izumi blinked as she glanced back at Rad," Come to think of it, Tsubaki hasn't been around lately…normally, he would be here with us all the time…"

Alexander mentioned, "Tsubaki did say that he was occupied at the moment."

"Yeah, but that never happened before," Izumi glanced upward as she pondered hard, "I just wonder what's Tsubaki doing?" She then averted her eyes toward Kurai, "Yuki, you're his roommate, don't you know what he's doing?"

Kurai shrugged, "Not really…he was gone after I woke."

Izumi looked at him with a surprised expression.

Kurai noticed her and thought it was annoying. He spoke coldly, "What?"

"Nothing," Izumi answered but smiled slightly, "it's just that I was sorta expecting you to say…Not really and I don't even care…but you said something different instead…heh…you cared about us, don't you?"

Kurai scoffed as he looked away with his arms crossed, "Hmph, I seriously don't care. You read too much."

Izumi just giggled as she knew that Kurai was being cold and that he refused to admit it.

Rad pouted, "I wanna see Tsubaki!"

Izumi looked back at Rad, "Alright, alright, I wanna see him too and see what he's doing. So let's go now."

"Wait just a minute!" Lisa interrupted, "You still haven't solved my problem! That giant freak of nature is still crawling around in this room!"

Izumi rolled her eyes and looked at Lisa disbelieving, "Are you sure you didn't made it up?"

Lisa scoffed, "Why would you say that?"

"Well, jeeze, I don't know, you could have made it up just to get some private time with Yuki!" Izumi countered.

"Ah!" Lisa gasped as she felt offended, "How dare you accuse me of such thing! I would never do such deceitful thing!'

"So you're sure there really is a bug?" Izumi asked again.

"Yes, I'm really sure that there's a disgusting creature in my room!" Lisa reassured.

"Well, have you ever thought of um…" Izumi clapped her hands as she came up with the most brilliant idea as she mocking Lisa's intelligence, "hiring an exterminator?"

Lisa crossed her arms and scowled, "By the time I hired one, that nasty creature could lay a nest and then there would be more!"

Izumi shrugged, "Well that wouldn't really matter because if an exterminator's here, they would all be dead anyway."

Lisa stomped her foot, "No! I cannot wait few more days just for that exterminator! I refuse to sleep knowing that bug could be crawling on the ceiling right above me!"

Alexander just grabbed a gourmet biscuit from the snack tray while enjoying this argument. Then there was something on the tray that caught Alexander's eyes, "Hmm?" He leaned for it, "Oh, what's this?" The others looked toward Alexander, "Look what I found." He smiled as he held a giant black bug in his hand and then squeezed its belly as it made a squeaking sound.

Izumi just stared as she couldn't believe her eyes.

Rad walked up to Alexander and swiped the bug off his hand, "Wow! It's a toy bug!" He squeezed it again as it made another funny sound, "It's almost detailed as Jim's toy crocodile!'

Alexander just chuckled, "Whatever you say, Radnor." He knew the crocodile was real but he's not even going to counter Rad's strong sense of denial.

Izumi then quickly looked at Lisa with a strong look of disapproval, "You didn't make it up, huuuuuuuuuuh?"

Lisa had a large sweat droplet dripping down the side of her head. She knew the situation looked very wrong but she defended herself out of desperation, "Wait, I know what this look like but really, there was a bug!"

* * *

Couple of minutes ago at the same bedroom, Lisa was holding a toy bug in her hand as she glanced around the room.

Vanessa blinked as she noticed the toy and asked, "Miss Lisa, what are you doing with that toy?"

Lisa answered, "Isn't it obvious? I planned to tell Lord Yuki about this "bug" problem in my room." She then clasped her hands around the toy bug and started to dream with her eyes replaced by stars inside hearts, "And when Lord Yuki comes to my room," A handsome Kurai with sparkles and flowers around him entered the room, "I'll make him stay and make sure he's completely well-served." Lisa, dressed in ballroom dress, served Kurai sushi from her finger to his mouth, "Then…when I find the "bug," I'll scream and fell right into Lord Yuki's arms." She over dramatically screamed and then fell into Kurai's arms.

Vanessa panted as she was holding those giant shojo drawings in the background behind Lisa.

Lisa clenched her fist around the toy bug, "It's foolproof, I'm telling you!" She then looked around again, "Now, I just need to find the perfect place to hide this bug!" She then saw something on the floor. A huge obvious arrow then pointed to a small black bug on the floor. Lisa just stared at in silence.

Vanessa noticed Lisa's quietness, "Miss Lisa?"

Lisa turned deathly pale and then she screamed, "AHHHHHHHH!" She panicked so much that she accidentally tossed the bug into the snack tray on her small dining table.

* * *

And now, we're brought back to this situation.

"So that's what happened!" Lisa told her story, "Really, there was a bug here!"

"Uh-huh…" Izumi didn't believe Lisa, "And we're leaving…" She pushed Rad out of the room, "Come on, Rad, let's go look for Tsubaki."

Lisa retorted at them, "Hey! I'm telling the truth!"

Alexander walked past her. He smiled back, "Thank you for having me over for tea." He went to follow Izumi and Rad.

"Lord Von Schroeder!" Lisa called out his name and she then whimpered as she watched Kurai walked past her, "Lord Yuki! You believed me, right?"

"I don't really care…" Kurai advised bluntly, "Just hire an exterminator." He walked ahead and then quickly glanced back, "And I'm full, so no more sushi." He then walked away.

"Lord Yuki!" Lisa pleaded and she could only watch the gang leave her. She tilted her head down in grief, "Why would no one believe me?"

"Maybe it's because…" Vanessa pointed out, "that you're a girl who would cry wolf?"

Lisa suddenly looked up and then slowly inched her head toward her aide, "Are you implying that I am a liar?"

Vanessa had a sweat droplet behind her head and she quickly waved her arms in defense, "No, no, Miss Lisa! I'm just saying that the others think you're a liar!"

"Vanessa!" Lisa scolded as she was about to punish her but just then she detected something. A huge blinking arrow pointed to the same bug above her doorway. Her eyes widened and her jawbone dropped. She then screamed, "AHHHHHHH!" She panicked, "Get rid of it! Get rid of it! Get rid of it!" She was yelling at Vanessa.

Vanessa had couple of sweat droplets as she just stared upward at the bug above the "tall" doorway, "I would but I'm too short…"

Lisa snapped, "Then get a chair from my room!"

Vanessa obeyed, "Right away!" But as soon as Vanessa started to leave, the bug was moving again.

Lisa screamed again, "Noooooooo! It's getting away! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!"

Suddenly, a card flew past her face. The card suddenly pierced the wall above the doorway, slicing the bug in perfect halves. Lisa just stared in astonishment and noticed the card, "A Regenerating Rose Token?" She quickly looked to her side to see a tall thin girl walking further down the hallway with a sky blue sports bag over her shoulder. She had long dark blue hair tied into a thin high ponytail. From the looks of her uniform, Lisa could tell that the girl is a first year student of Obelisk Blue.

Lisa narrowed her eyes, "That girl…why have I never seen her before during the first semester?...unless…" Her eyes widened in recognition, "She must be the number one female first year Obelisk Blue…"

* * *

Each of the four cardinal Duel Academies were special in their own way. The North Duel Academy focused on power and ranked the students based on their strength. The East Duel Academy prized itself for focusing on decks and styles that required wisdom and strategy. The West Duel Academy was highly successful with their original teaching style, Dis-Duel. The South Duel Academy was well known for giving special vacations or prizes to students who received good marks or special praise, encouraging students to study more or strengthen the competition.

Elsewhere inside the Obelisk Blue dormitories, a golden bleached hair boy was walking slowly toward the doors that lead out of the bedroom. The room was completely dark with the black drapes blocking all sunlight. Even though the boy was wearing sunglasses, he could easily tell where the exit is with his other senses. Just as he was about to reach for the door handle, the curtain suddenly opened, letting the sunlight exposed him.

"Master Hyun-Ki, where do you think you're going?" A tall boy with spiky red-orange hair was calling out the golden haired boy's name while standing next to the opened curtains.

Hyun-Ki groaned as he tilted his head back toward the tall teenager, "Oh come on, Kwang! Can you just let me go outside just at least once?"

"You know I can't let you do that!" Kwang chided as he closed the curtain, "Doctor Schmitt specifically ordered you to stay in bed at all times especially indoor!"

Hyun-Ki shrugged, "Oh liven it up, I'll be fine! I'm wearing my sunglasses, so I can walk out in daylight!"

Kwang scolded, "And what if you trip? And what if someone bump into you? What would happen if there's a scenario that would make you drop your sunglasses and then the sunlight would damage your eyes even further!" He grabbed Hyun-Ki's arm and dragged him away from the doors, "I can't let take you that risk!"

Hyun-Ki whined as he tried to reach for the door, "Oh come on, MOM! Let me have my freedom! Freedom!"

Kwang struggled as he tried to pull him away. Sadly, they were both the same age and despite his taller frame and Hyun-Ki's slender body, they actually had the same strength. Kwang's forehead vein twitched and he glared back with his red eyes, "Don't make me take desperate measure!"

Hyun-Ki taunted, "Ha! Don't make me laugh! You know you can never beat me in martial arts!" He suddenly twirled his body to kick him in the head. Instead of blocking like Hyun-Ki expected him to, Kwang just grabbed his leg, making Hyun-Ki surprised, "Eh? Woah!" Kwang suddenly lifted the smaller teen over his broad shoulder, "No fair! Put me down, you stupid overprotective mother!"

Kwang's forehead vein twitched more but decided to ignore it as he just dropped Hyun-Ki on his bed, "Don't even think of moving."

Hyun-Ki crossed his arms as he pouted, "You never let me have fun."

Kwang countered, "You had your fun last time."

Hyun-ki pouted even more, "Oh sure! Only right before the school year and I only get to duel Kurai once!"

Kwang scoffed, "Please, we all know you can easily defeat him even without full strength."

Hyun-Ki looked away, "But then that wouldn't be fun…he has the potential…I know he does…he just need a lot more experiences."

"Heh, is that why you made me request the Dynast to let his cards get stolen by that thief?" A voice caught their attention making both of them glanced at the newcomer. It was a young man who's taller than Hyun-Ki but not tall as Kwang. He had dark brown hair that was combed maturely and brown eyes that gave him an image of a wise man beyond his years. He was also an Obelisk Blue student except it was custom fitted to have a long black collared scarf around his neck.

Hyun-Ki said the newcomer's name, "Sung Min! It's been so long since I see you!"

Sung Min gave a polite smile, "Oh master…you just saw me last week."

Hyun-Ki complained, "Hey, I'll take your presence than his anytime." He pointed to Kwang next to him. The tall teenager just scoffed as he crossed his arms and looked away.

Sung Min chuckled, "I'm honored that you enjoy my presence more than him but you have to admit he's most suited to be your personal bodyguard. Plus I can't really stay with you if we're not the same year."

Hyun-Ki joked, "Then fail this year, so that way, we'll be the same year next year!"

Sung Min laughed softly, "As much as I like to, I have my pride as a scholar."

Hyun-Ki asked, "So what brings you here? You already told me the results of Kurai's duel with the thief."

Sung Min smiled, "Oh, I just thought I would be here for the special occasion."

Hyun-Ki tilted his head sideway, "Special occasion."

"Wait…today is…" Kwang remembered and then suddenly paled, "Ah crap…"

Hyun-Ki looked at Kwang's expression, "Well he's scared…this must be really good."

Sung Min nodded, "It is good, considering today is the day that she's coming back."

Hyun-Ki's eyebrows narrowed, "Wait…she's coming back…you mean…." He paled himself too, "Aw…crap…"

Kwang mocked, "And you thought it must be really good."

Hyun-Ki panicked, "Wait a second! She's a girl! She's not allowed in the Boys' Dorms! There's no way she's going to be allowed here."

The doors suddenly slammed opened, "Master Hyun-Ki!" A loud female voice boomed across the room.

Kwang spoke sarcastically, "You were saying?"

It was the same girl that killed Lisa's bug with a well-thrown card. The tall girl dropped her sports bag as she suddenly ran up to Hyun-Ki and glomped him, "Master Hyun-ki! I missed you so much!"

Hyun-Ki cried, "Gah! I'm gonna miss my back bone!"

Sung Min chuckled as he scratched his own face cheek, feeling sorry for his master, "Welcome back, Eun Mi."

Eun Mi looked back at Sung Min with wide teal eyes while still lying on top of poor Hyun-Ki, "Sung Min! I missed you too! Where's Jae-Sun?"

Sung Min thought hard, "Well knowing him, he's training as usual."

Eun Mi pouted, "Aww…Jae-Sun could at least take a break from training to see me."

"You know how he is," Sung Min pointed out, "he's very dedicated to his training. And you're suffocating poor master there."

Eun Mi blinked in slight confusion and she quickly looked down at Hyun-Ki, who was just lying on his bed, all pale and twitching from the pain. She gasped, "Master Hyun-Ki, I'm so sorry!"

Kwang just sighed as he knew that would happen. He grabbed Eun Mi's uniform collar and lifted her up effortlessly. He gave a stern look at Eun Mi.

Eun Mi frowned, "Oh, it's you, Kwang."

Kwang scolded, "If you don't wanna hurt Master Hyun-Ki, don't do that again." He dropped her gently.

Eun Mi defended, "I knew that! I don't need to hear it from you." She pointed to Kwang dramatically, "Now that I'm here, I can take over as Master Hyun-Ki's bodyguard!"

Kwang scoffed, "Yeah right."

Eun Mi frowned, "I'm serious!" She slammed her hand above her chest, "As a woman of justice, I should protect Master Hyun-Ki with all my honor as a future heroine!'

Sung Min laughed, "Still pursing the goal of being a heroine?"

Eun Mi nodded, "Of course! Even though the path may be long winding and difficult, I will never give it up! I will definitely be a great hero like Master Hyun-Ki!"

Hyun-Ki groaned, "Even heroes don't get treated like this…" He hugged himself as he rolled to his side on the bed, "Ack! Oh…my spine…"

"I'll get Doctor Schmitt," Sung Min walked off but before he left, he looked back, "And since I'm not studying, I'll observe Kurai Yuki for you." He smirked, "So Kwang can stay and look after you."

"Kurai Yuki?" Eun Mi repeated as she never heard that name. How could she? She was on a special study vacation, her reward for being the number one 1st year student Obelisk Blue at the entrance exam.

Hyun-Ki groaned, "Damnit!" He was secretly hoping to sneak out while Kwang goes observed Kurai, "I swear…you guys are so overprotective."

Eun Mi went to the other side of the bed and kneeled on her knees as she placed her head on her arms on the bed, facing Hyun-Ki, "Hey, Master Hyun-Ki, who's Kurai Yuki?'

* * *

At the Duel Academia, Professor Daitokuji was standing in the Osiris Red dining room as he was making an announcement, "Nya...there's someone I would like to introduce you all-nya." He nodded, "Nya." He walked to his side, revealing a small child dressed in Osiris Red uniform with a thick black round cap, "This is Rei Saotome-kun, who took the transfer test, and was admitted into Osiris Red for this journey-nya."

Hayato gazed at the new student, "He's as good looking as a girl."

Sho questioned, "I wonder if he's upset because he was put in Osiris Red…" He crossed his arms and nodded in sympathy, "I know that feeling…"

Judai glanced at Sho, accepting his words about the new student's feelings. He then decided to make things better himself as he stood up, "All right!" Sho and Hayato looked at Judai and then everyone else was looking at him as they were all wondering what he's doing. Judai tossed his right arm, "Go!" He then tossed his other arm, "Go!" He crossed his arms and then stretched both of his arms out, "Reiiiiii!"

Rei couldn't help but gasp as he felt embarrassed by Judai's cheer.

Judai suddenly ran up to Rei and tried to cheer him up, "C'mon, don't feel bad 'cause your grades suck!" He patted Rei's back, "You'll have fun being with us!"

"You're misunderstanding-nya…" Daitokuji intervened.

Judai explained, "I was just saying stuff to try and…" Rei suddenly broke away from him and hid behind Daitokuji, "…make this transfer student feel better?"

Daitokuji corrected Judai, "It's not that Saotome-kun was placed in Osiris Red because of having bad grades-nya."

"Eh?" Judai leaned closer to Rei.

Daitokuji continued, "New transfer students are first admitted into this dorm-nya. Saotome-kun's grades could soon move him to Ra Yellow-nya."

Judai was stunned and then laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head, "Well, having more friends in Osiris Red is a warm welcome!" He looked back at his friends as he gave a "V" gesture, trying his best to hide his embarrassment, "Right, Sho? Hayato?"

Sho and Hayato glanced at each other, knowing Judai meant well. They both stood up, "Of course!"

Daitokuji smiled, "Thank goodness-nya! Because we don't have enough rooms, I was wondering what to do-nya!"

Judai blinked in surprise, "Huh?"

Daitokuji looked at Rei, "You can use Judai-kun and his friends' room for a little while." This also made Judai's friends blinked in surprise too.

Rei smiled, "Right."

* * *

Back to South Duel Academy, also at the Osiris Red cafeteria, a red haired boy, Tsubaki, was at the lunch table poking the mystery meat on his tray, checking to make sure it's safe and edible. He sighed disappointedly, "At least I know for sure one of the ingredients is fish. It's always fish everyday."

"Tsubaki!" Tsubaki immediately recognized the voice and he suddenly brought the lunch tray up in defense against Rad's greeting kick, not caring that he dropped his lunch. (He decided it's inedible anyway)

Rad blinked in surprise, "You blocked my greeting..."

"Why are you so shocked about it?" Tsubaki snapped, "After being used to your kicks for awhile, I would know when to block it by now!"

Rad laughed as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "That's true…" He smiled, "I'm just surprised because you seemed to be getting stronger…"

Tsubaki blinked in surprise at Rad's observation and he looked away, denying Rad's claim, "It's just your imagination."

"Tsubaki!" Izumi showed up and then ran up to him, "Where were you? And what happened to you?" She noticed some bandages on Tsubaki's arms.

Tsubaki glanced down at his bandages and shrugged it off, "I just went out with Ethan, that's all."

Izumi gasped, "Did you two have a fight or something? I mean I know you can be hot headed and tended to…"

"No!" Tsubaki retorted while his forehead vein twitched as he felt offended, "And I don't get that easily provoked!"

"It's quite obvious…" Alexander walked in with a sadistic smile, "if he's with Ethan, they probably…"

Tsubaki interrupted, "Don't. Even. Say. Another. Word."

Alexander complained, "But I didn't even say anything yet."

Tsubaki frowned, "I know but I know you too well to know what you're going to say next."

Alexander chucked, "That's true. So where were you? You missed all the fun."

Izumi retorted, "Fun for you but not fun for us!" She looked back at Tsubaki, "So yeah, like Alex said, where were you?"

Tsubaki didn't answer. He just stayed silent as he wasn't sure how to answer. He then glanced at Kurai who was behind the group, doing his down business. He then stood up and decided to get another lunch tray, "I was just busy, that's all."

"Tsubaki…" Izumi was surprised that her friend was not saying anything.

Tsubaki continued, "Beside…I can't have fun all the time like you guys."

Izumi grouched, "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Then she heard excitement and noticed students inside the cafeteria were getting up and leaving, "What's going on?"

Rad peered his eyes toward the direction that the students were headed for, "There's a crowd over there! I see Ra Yellow and Osiris Red."

Alexander commented, "Oh? That's a rare crowd." He smiled, "Should the Head of the Disciplinary Committee check it out?" Kurai was about to return to his dorm for peace and quiet until Alexander just had to mention him. Kurai growled angrily at Alexander before he stomped his way toward the crowd. It didn't take long for the others to follow him and see what's going on.

As Kurai and the others forced their way through the large crowd, they saw a mean looking bulky Ra Yellow student who was bullying a thinner Osiris Red student.

Ra Yellow boy commented, "Oh man…there he goes again…that bully just doesn't stop picking on that guy…"

Osiris Red boy replied, "I felt sorry for him but what can we do anyway?"

Izumi immediately felt sorry for the poor Osiris Red boy and she quickly looked at Kurai, "Yuki! This is your job to stop him!"

Kurai shrugged, "Not really."

Izumi blinked in surprised and then asked, "Why? Aren't you the Head of the Disciplinary Committee?"

The poor beaten Osiris Red boy was lying on the ground, looking even more pathetic than before. The Ra bully taunted, "Come on, get up, you drop out loser! I'm not done yet!"

The victim just whimpered in cowardice until he noticed Kurai, "H-h-hey! You gotta help me, sir! He's beating me up!" The bully saw Kurai and immediately stepped back, knowing about his unrivaled strength.

Kurai just crossed his arms and averted his eyes away from the victim, "I'm not going to do anything."

The bystanders were surprised including Kurai's friends, well, with the exception of Alexander.

"Yuki!" Izumi yelled.

Kurai narrowed his eyes coldly at Izumi, "I won't do anything for that idiot who can't even stand up for himself. If I kept defending him all the time, he's never going to grow up."

"Well…true…" Izumi agreed that Kurai had a point but she looked back toward the bulky bully who's just punching his fists, feeling safe now, knowing that Kurai won't punish him. She gulped and quickly looked back at Kurai, "Oh come on, you don't expect the wuss to actually stand up to him!"

The victim cried, "Wuss?"

Izumi quickly apologized, "Um sorry about that…"

Rad blinked, "But he does look like a wuss. He had that random face that looks like you want to beat him up."

Tsubaki nodded, "I'll have to agree with Rad here."

The victim sobbed, "You guys are cruel!"

The bully walked closer toward the victim. The poor Osiris boy just cried even more as he covered his face with his hands. Tsubaki and Rad narrowed their eyes as they nearly rushed forth to save him. The bully held his arm back as he was about to punch the poor guy until suddenly, a strong kick collided with his face and sent him tumbling across the dirt ground. He was kicked so hard that there was a large red sneaker imprint on the side of his face. The others just gaped in amazement as they couldn't believe their eyes. A thin girl just took down a giant with a kick.

The victim removed his arms from his face as he wondered why there was no pain coming. He looked up to the see the girl and then the bully on the floor. He clasped his hands in prayer, "Thank you! Thank you!"

"Wow…" Izumi couldn't help but be amazed and then noticed her blue uniform, "She's from Obelisk Blue? I never see her before."

Alexander answered, "She's Eun Mi, the number one 1st Year Obelisk Blue."

Rad commented, "Oh just like Jim is the number one 1st Year Ra Yellow?"

Izumi realized, "Oh, so she gets to take one of those special vacations? No wonder I never seen her…" She blushed in amazement, "She looked so much prettier than Lisa!"

Eun Mi flicked her ponytail over her shoulder and then suddenly gave a menacing glare toward Izumi's spot.

Izumi cringed as she felt a large sweat droplet sliding down the back of her neck, "Um…and she looked scarier than Lisa…"

Tsubaki gulped, "You got that right! What did we do for?"

Rad blinked, "She's staring at us?" He grinned, "We're certainly popular!"

Tsubaki smacked the back of Rad's head, "Can't you tell that she's hating us?"

Eun Mi stomped right up to them, causing the bystanders to immediately back away. She pointed her finger dramatically, "Kurai Yuki!" She spoke his name with anger in her voice.

The others blinked in surprise except Alexander who smirked as he was finding the situation getting more interesting.

Eun Mi scorned, "Why didn't you help that poor guy? Aren't you the Head of the Disciplinary Committee? Isn't your responsibility to help people?"

Kurai just looked away, "Hmph, why should I help someone who can't even help himself?"

Eun Mi countered, "He was defenseless! If he was brutally injured, would you take responsibility for it?"

Kurai shrugged, "If that happened, then it happened."

Eun Mi couldn't believe her ears, _'This is the guy that Master Hyun-Ki admired?_' She clenched her fist tightly, _'I refused to accept that…to think that this cruel man be worthy of Master Hyun-Ki's attention…I refuse!' _She pointed to Kurai dramatically again, "I thought you would be a man of dignity and justice if you're the Head of Disciplinary Committee but now that I have seen your true colors, I can see that you're a vile man!"

Kurai just looked back at her boredly, "You done?"

Eun Mi felt offended, "No, I'm not done!"

"I am." Kurai just walked away.

Eun Mi gasped, "Hey! Don't you walk away from me!"

Tsubaki spoke to Eun Mi, "Hey, don't be so picky about it. That's just how he is." He followed Kurai.

"Wait up!" Rad followed them too.

Izumi quickly apologized, "Sorry about Yuki." She ran after them.

Eun Mi crossed her arms, "I can't believe it. What's so great about Kurai Yuki?"

Alexander chuckled, "Eun Mi, right? I take it that you're acquaintance of Hyun-Ki?"

Eun Mi narrowed her eyes, "How do you know about Master Hyun-Ki?"

Alexander smiled, "I know quite a lot about Hyun-Ki and you being one of the Four Emperors."

Eun Mi frowned at Alexander as she suspected him knowing too much, "Hmph." She walked away, feeling frustrated.

* * *

Later that night, Kurai was just resting on his bed. After dealing with all those cumbersome tasks those students whined him to do for them, he found his room a welcome sanctuary. But it would be a perfect sanctuary if Kurai didn't have such a noisy roommate...

Kurai opened his eyes slightly as he blinked once in confusion. He did have a noisy roommate, right? He then glanced to the other side of the room and noticed the bed was empty, _'Huh…that idiot is gone again…' _He shrugged as he didn't really care and went back to his peace and quiet. Few minutes passed and Kurai suddenly sat up, "Damnit! I knew I hanged around those idiots too long." He refused to admit that he was feeling a bit…a very tiny bit…maybe more like a miniscule bit of concern for his roommate plus the fact he knew that Izumi would bug him again about where Tsubaki was. Kurai rolled his eyes as he then decided not to care and went back to sleeping. Not even a minute past and Kurai already stood up and walked out of the dorm hut, deciding it's not peace and quiet without that dumb guy around. Yes, people, he's only doing it because he wanted his peace and quiet, not that he really care for his friend.

Kurai walked around the academy grounds to find Tsubaki. He was doing it as the Head of the Disciplinary Committee because students shouldn't be out during nighttime. That was the excuse he came up with and stuck with it. He then heard a faint shuffling from the bush and quickly became on guard. The bush shook faster than before as the unknown creature was coming closer. Kurai narrowed his eyes.

"Rwar!" Suddenly, a crocodile came out of the bush and pinned Kurai down.

"What the…" Kurai was surprised to see a crocodile on top of him.

"Karen!" A tall Ra yellow, Jim, showed up, "Karen, what are you doing?" He pulled Karen off and rubbed her head to calm her down. He looked at Kurai, "Sorry about that, Dark Boy. Karen normally doesn't do this." He looked down at Karen, "What gotten into you?"

Kurai just sat up and stared at the crocodile who was staring at him.

Jim continued to rub Karen's head as she was now purring, "I'm just taking Karen out on a walk. I can't really let her completely free when it's crowded."

Kurai suddenly held a beef jerky toward Karen, "Here. That's what you want, right?"

Jim blinked in surprise as he didn't expect Kurai to be nice to Karen.

Karen opened her mouth and clamped it down on Kurai's arm. She stepped back to remove her mouth from Kurai's still intact arm. Jim whistled in awe, "Wow, Dark Boy, you didn't even jump back when Karen closed her mouth. Lot of brave people would back away at the last moment."

Kurai stood up, "I just knew she wouldn't bite me." He walked away.

Jim also stood up and walked after him, "How do you know that?"

Kurai answered bluntly, "If she wanted to eat me, she could have bit me back then but instead she was sniffling around. And I just remembered I kept a beef jerky in my pocket."

Jim was impressed, "Heh, you're really amazing, Dark Boy. You're not only good at duels but you're nice to Karen." He suggested excitedly, "Hey, let's be friends."

"Not interested." Kurai replied coldly.

Jim was surprised, "Eh, why not?"

"I'm just not interested in hanging out with idiots." Kurai continued searching.

"Is that so?" Jim questioned, "Yet you still let others hang out with you."

Kurai retorted, "That was their choice, not mine."

Jim smirked, "But you didn't push them away yourself, Dark Boy."

Kurai glanced at Jim annoyingly, "I did and they just kept coming back."

Jim snickered, "Heh, maybe I'll do the same thing as them then. I'm interested in you, Dark Boy."

Kurai just looked at him with annoyed expression. He then kneeled next to Karan and patted her, "I rather be friend with her instead of you. At least she can't say stupid stuff." Karen purred in response.

Jim laughed, "If you're gonna be friend with Karen and Karen's my friend, then technically that make us friends."

Kurai stood up and growled, "You're getting annoying." He walked away.

Jim grinned, "That's too bad. Like you said about your friends, it's my choice to hang out with you."

Kurai rolled his eyes, "Great, another idiot."

Jim just laughed at Kurai's comment. He then stopped laughing and asked, "What was it like in the ruins?"

Kurai stopped walking as soon as Jim mentioned the ruins. He looked back at Jim, wondering why he asked that.

Jim pointed to him, "I'm an archeologist in training. I love to study ancient ruins and stuff like those. When I heard about the ruins here, I wanted to go so badly but then I was so disappointed when I found out it was forbidden. But then I heard about you."

Kurai just looked away as he continued walking, "It wasn't that exciting."

"Oh?" Jim walked after him, "So you didn't find anything from the ruins? Any secrets?"

"Secrets?" Kurai asked.

"Come on, it's obvious that the ruins here is hiding something." Jim pointed out, "After all, why would there be Duel Academy here? There must be some secret that someone knew and protecting."

"Hmm…I never knew that." Kurai admitted.

"Oh? If you didn't know that, why do you enter the ruins for?" Jim asked.

Kurai didn't answer. The answer was clear in his mind. He knew that he entered the ruins for the sake of power and he didn't get one. Instead he met a mysterious shadow who promised him power in exchange of his body but who was going to believe him that. He was not sure that he should answer him. Suddenly, his PDA rang and distracted his thoughts. Kurai cursed silently and looked at it.

"What is it?" Jim curiously peered over since he was taller than Kurai. He read the message that said, "I'm in trouble! Please help me!" The location was coming from the female Obelisk Blue dormitory.

Kurai immediately closed his PDA, "Do you mind?"

Jim blinked, "The message sound urgent. Aren't you going to go?"

Kurai replied bluntly, "Not really."

"Eh, why not?"

"Hmph," Kurai didn't have to answer him but he admitted that he wasn't annoying as his other friends. So he continued, "Over the past few weeks, there had been a peeping tom in the Obelisk Blue girls' dorms. I can't really find the culprit but the charge is not so seriously urgent if it's just peeping."

Jim replied, "You're cold but you do have a point."

Kurai's PDA rang again and he groaned out of annoyance. He looked at it but this time, his eyes widened slightly. The message now read, "Help me! Please, you gotta help me! He's after me!"

Jim didn't peek this time, not wanting to provoke Kurai, but he asked out of curiosity, "What is it now?"

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "It's the same person….except someone's chasing her…"

Jim became alert, "What? We gotta help her! That might be the peeping tom!"

"I know already!" Kurai ran off toward the Obelisk Blue girls' dorms. He may be cold but he was not that cold to let a girl be assaulted.

The boys eventually arrived at the girls' dorms but they were locked out. They didn't have a pass card to open the door. Kurai just received another message except it was more urgent than before, "Damnit…I can't get in…"

"Don't worry!" Jim looked down at Karen, "Karen!"

Karen immediately knew what Jim wanted. She turned around and let her tail face the door. She held her wide tail back and swung it like a whip. The brute force of Karen's tail was enough to break the door down. Kurai immediately ran in.

"Thanks, Karen! Stay here and be on guard in case the culprit comes out." Jim dashed after Kurai, "Where's the message coming from?"

Kurai answered, "The girls' lockers." He scowled, "I don't wanna go in there but it's urgent."

Jim chuckled, "We'll apologize to her afterwards."

It was rather strange that they didn't meet any security or any female duelists but they decided to ignore because it was an emergency. They arrived at the locker room just to find the size of it rather daunting. Jim glanced around and advised, "I think we should split up."

"Fine." Kurai agreed and went off in one direction. Jim went in the other direction. It was strangely quiet, considering how desperate the messages were when Kurai received it. The quietness could only lead to one scenario but Kurai don't want that to happen. He looked around to see if there were signs of struggle but weird enough, there were no signs or any messes that a person might make if she was chased. The Osiris boy walked further down the locker room as he was getting closer toward the bath pools. He knew better not to enter it and was about to leave until he heard a scream coming from the pools. Kurai gritted his teeth, knowing it would be improper but what choice did he have? He immediately ran into the bath pools, "Hey!" His eyes widened in shock.

Eun Mi was sitting on a stool, holding an empty bucket above her. The scream must have come from the shock of hot water from the bucket immediately touching her bare skin…her very bare skin. Eun Mi's teal eyes widened as she saw Kurai after hearing him. Her eyes grew wider as she realized the situation. She dropped the bucket and slowly opened her mouth.

Kurai quickly snapped out of his shock and immediately ran away. Soon after, a loud eardrum piercing scream completely echoed throughout the entire female dorms. Kurai was in deep, deep, deep trouble.

**TBC**


	38. 20B: The Number One Heroine!

**Author's note: **I hate this chapter. It's been awhile since I updated and here's a reason why, I was writing my longest chapter ever with the longest duel too! How did this happen? I did enough character interactions but I didn't think the duel would last me so long and so epic too! I was so exhausted by the time I finally reached the end of this chapter! I hope you guys like it and remember my sacrifice to bring you this super long chapter. Of course, you can always pay me back by giving me reviews! Thank you!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! Credit goes to GLL99 for subs of episode 20.

**

* * *

Episode 20: The Number One Heroine! Part B**

The TV screen showed an image of Lucian Soir, a small 12 year old Obelisk Blue boy with teal green hair, with a frightened face and Cyber Dragon behind him. A second later, a logo of Yugioh GX appeared on the bottom right corner.

Lucian blinked in confusion at the TV screen and then looked back at the narrator, "Why do you show me?"

The narrator had a large drop of sweat behind his head, "Um…well…" He laughed nervously, "After writing so long on the previous episode, I completely forgot to insert a eye-catch screen…so for some odd reason, it's showing this when it really should be showing this! He held his dramatically to the next picture.

The screen disappeared as it was replaced by an image of Eun Mi with a furious look on her face. Behind her was Rose Fairy in her cute glory. The logo soon appeared on the bottom right corner.

"There we go!" The narrator felt proud of himself with his fists on his hips, "That's the right catch screen for this episode!" He chuckled nervously, "I just hope no one notice my mistake…"

Julian looked away dejectedly, "Onii-sama is so much cooler than you. He wouldn't make any stupid mistake like you."

The narrator just turned frozen solid and cracked like broken glasses.

* * *

The next morning, rumors about the scream and the appearance of the peeping tom had already spread like wildfire among the Duel Academy. The girls were at riot and demanded justice for their invasion of privacy and demanded that the pervert come forth and be a man to admit guilt. Leading that riot was none other than Eun Mi, a recent victim of the voyeur's assault. According to the number one 1st year female Obelisk Blue student, she had already known the actual voyeur. Recently, the uproar had reached the staff's ears.

At the top floor of the Duel Academy building, the Principal was at his office as he just heard the news.

Kamil, the principal, sighed as he was staring at huge stack of formal complaints, "So, what is it now, this time?" He didn't even bother reading it, knowing his assistant already did the work.

Rebecca, being his unofficial assistant, silently cursed the Principal for his laziness and herself for this horrendous job. She remained calm despite the blaring obvious vein twitching out of anger on her forehead and answered, "It's the voyeur again except it's more serious this time."

Kamil groaned as he heard this so many times. He pondered why Kurai was not doing his job to capture the peeping tom, "So why did this guy do this time? Did he peek while the girl was changing? Or while she was eating? Or while she was studying? Or what she was taking a…" Before he even finished that comment, he received a loud smack from Rebecca's harisen.

Rebecca lost control of her temper momentarily, "Don't even mention it. The other incidents were harmless because it never occurred in the bath house and there were no evidences of this voyeur but this time, it was really serious and the victim had witnessed the perpetrator herself."

Kamil asked again as he was anxious to know, "So what does the guy do? You haven't told me that yet."

Rebecca sighed exasperatedly at the Principal's impatience, "The voyeur saw a girl at the Obelisk Blue bathhouse."

Kamil blinked in confusion, "And…?"

Rebecca gave an instant glare with more veins twitching on her forehead, "Are you slow or just slow? The voyeur saw the girl nude!"

"Ohhhhhh…" Kamil finally understood. He then scratched his cheek in embarrassment, "I thought our resident voyeur saw the girl swimming in her swimsuit or something like that…"

Rebecca's twitching veins burst as she took out her harisen again and slammed Kamil, "What average girl is going to wear a swimsuit at the bath house especially when it's not allowed?"

Kamil rubbed his face cheek that now had a cross bandage on it from the harisen smack as he nodded in understanding, "I see. I see. I see now…well…is the girl pretty?"

Rebecca blinked, "I don't see how this question is related to this situation."

Kamil answered with a chuckle, "Well if the girl is pretty, then that voyeur is pretty lucky, don't you think?"

Rebecca just stood there in uncomfortable silence. After overcoming her initial shock, she tilted downward with her blonde bangs hiding her glasses. She then started muttering random cusses as a mysterious dark aura of anger glowed around her and became bigger and bigger.

Kamil gulped as he felt a giant droplet of sweat sliding down the back of his neck. He meekly explained, "It was a lame joke?"

Rebecca's eyes flashed as she took out a special harisen with a label titled "Special Punishment Harisen Only Reserved For Stupid Principal." She roared, "IT'S NOT FUNNY!" With a force so powerful that it was impossible to be wielded by a little girl but somehow with the law of anime that defied all laws of logic, Rebecca smacked the poor Principal so hard that he was sent flying and slammed to the window wall. Immediately afterward, he fell to the floor with a loud bang.

The little blonde withdrew her weapon, "I hope you're serious now."

Kamil clasped his hand on the desk as he could barely support himself up. The poor Principal was in so much pain that he couldn't even cry, "Yes…I completely understand now…hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

"Plus…don't you ever think that a serious crime like this…" Rebecca pointed out, "Is gonna make a student expelled or possibly be jailed for sexual harassment."

Kamil plopped back on his seat, "Expelled? Jailed?" He paled, "Those words usually means…"

The entry double doors slammed open as Morgan stormed in, "Principal!"

"And speak of the devil, she's here…" Kamil sighed as he started to regret hiring such fearsome women.

"I have heard all the details!" Morgan stomped right up to Kamil's desk and slammed her hands on it, "Why aren't we doing anything about it!"

Rebecca scoffed as she crossed her arms and looked away, "If you really knew all the details, then you would know why."

Morgan growled at Rebecca as she didn't like her tone, "What are you trying to imply, Miss Hopkins?"

Kamil panicked slightly, "Please calm down, Miss Morgan." He glanced at Rebecca, "Well, I don't know all the details, so I would like to hear it."

Rebecca sighed as she didn't like this situation, "The voyeur is actually Kurai Yuki."

Morgan was stunned but she smirked confidently, "Heh, I always knew not to trust that troublemaker and now he'll have to pay for his crimes!" She was about to gloat her victory.

Rebecca continued, "The victim is not pressing charges yet."

"What?" Morgan's victory bubble just burst, "Why would she want not to press charges!"

Rebecca explained more, "It's because she wants to deal with this herself, something about her pride won't allow any other help."

Morgan scorned, "That's completely absurd. Who does she think she is?"

"She is Eun Mi, a 1st year student with the highest score on the examination." Zenobia announced as she walked into the Principal's office since the doors were slammed opened anyway, "And she's Obelisk Blue which is under my jurisdiction." She gave a crooked smile, "Not yours, dear, remember?"

Morgan gritted her teeth, "Regardless of who she is, the voyeur is still guilty of his crime…"

Zenobia interrupted, "It does matter who she is. Eun Mi is one of the Four Emperors under Hyun-Ki Kyon, a very special Obelisk Blue student."

Morgan repeated the name, "Hyun-Ki Kyon…?"

Zenobia smirked, "I'm not surprised that you didn't know since you're just an Osiris Red Professor. Ho. Ho. Ho." She laughed snobbishly.

Morgan fumed as she glared intently at Zenobia, "Do you wanna lose your job?"

"Hyun-Ki Kyon," Kamil reckoned, "He's the son of the Ceo of the Kyon Corporation, one of the largest businesses in the World that rivaled the Manjoume Corporation. With connections, Hyun-Ki could have been in Duel Academia but due to his condition and love for Duel Monsters, he was sent here where our Doctor Schmitt resided. Also, the Kyon Corporation donated quite a generous sum to this school." He chuckled, "Heh, we're not in position to refuse the Four Emperors, Hyun-Ki's loyal protectors, who held power from Hyun-Ki's father." He leaned back on his office chair with arms behind his head, "Beside if Eun Mi want to take care of it herself, let her do it."

"You just don't want any more work." Rebecca claimed and Kamil immediately coughed out of nervousness.

Zenobia smiled, "There as you see and heard, you can't do anything against Kurai."

Morgan just growled and then crossed her arms, "Hmph." Victory had fled her grasp once again.

* * *

"Heh. Heh. Heh. You really done it this time," Alexander laughed, "All those times, your cute little clever ways that supposedly helped the students with their problems had backfired on you."

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "What the hell do you mean?" He was hiding in the Obelisk bedroom for the boy.

Alexander smiled with his eyes closed, "It's just very sad. You were merely trying to help but instead you came across her in the most inopportune time, invoking her rage that was causing you to hide here."

Kurai growled, "I'm not a coward." He looked away, "That hot headed girl…she's not the type who would listen to you even if you're innocent."

Alexander chuckled, "That's true. Even though you did it for a right reason, the fact does not change that you did saw her. She will never let that go, so you had no choice but to hide here until her rage subside," He smirked, "It may be a sensible action but it's still a cowardly action."

Kurai countered with a dangerous growl as a warning to Alexander not to push his luck.

"Any one would run away from her," Ethan commented as he involved himself in their conversation. He was merely typing away data on random duelists until suddenly, Alexander asked him to hide Kurai in his room. Frankly, Ethan felt pissed but he's not saying anything. He continued, "Eun Mi is the type of girl you certainly don't want to mess with especially with her status."

"What are you talking about?" Kurai asked.

Alexander smiled, "Remember Hyun-Ki Kyon, the guy you never finished your duel with before the start of the school year?"

"The blind guy?" Kurai crossed his arms, "Hmph, I still want to finish that duel with him."

"That blind guy," Ethan pressed few buttons and screens with pictures of Hyun-Ki showed up on his computer, "is the son of a ceo of one of the largest companies in the world. So, that made Hyun-Ki one of the richest teenagers in the world. Not only that, he's a genius at dueling and won many tournaments in his home country ever since he was eight. Because of his status in the business world and the dueling world, he had many allies and enemies. So, to ensure protection of Hyun-Ki, the Four Emperors were created. In order to have that title, there are strict requirements: one, the person must be around the same age as Hyun-Ki, two, the person must be well versed in fighting, and finally, the person's dueling skills must be nearly strong as Hyun-Ki himself."

Kurai's eyes widened slightly in interest. He smirked, "Heh…is that so?" Then he realized, "Don't tell me…"

Alexander opened his eyes while remained smiling, "That's correct. Eun Mi is one of the Four Emperors. She is the Blue Empress of the East. Then there's also Sung Min, the Black Emperor of the North, Jae-Sun, White Emperor of the West, and finally, Kwang, the Red Emperor of the South."

"Kwang?" Kurai recognized that name. He then remembered a tall guy with fiery red hair who told Kurai at the beginning of the school year to wait for Hyun-Ki's recovery, "Hmm, I met him. He was like an annoying overprotective mother."

Alexander chuckled at Kurai's insult, "I can imagine why since Kwang is Hyun-Ki's personal bodyguard. But that's another story. There's more you should know about Eun Mi."

"What about her?" Kurai asked.

Ethan answered as he pressed few more buttons and brought up Eun Mi's stats on the screen, "She's the youngest of the Four Emperors and won her fair share of tournaments at the age of 12 for Hyun-Ki's place. Even though she's the youngest and a girl, in their home country, she actually assisted the police force in many gang arrests. Her fans called her an Azure Heroine because of her strength and impeccable sense of justice."

Kurai narrowed his amber eyes, "So you're saying…"

Alexander smiled with his eyes closed again, "You're screwed."

Kurai instantly countered with a strong glare.

Alexander chuckled, "Eun Mi will never let this go until you're brought to justice. She'll chase you to the end of the Earth until you are punished."

Kurai mocked, "Great, she's a younger version of that psycho law professor." Alexander just laughed while Kurai was still annoyed with his sticky situation, "So what am I supposed to do now? Turn myself in and plead my case?"

Alexander gestured toward Ethan, "Not to worry, I'm sure he'll find an answer."

"So that's why you made me hid here," Kurai glanced at Ethan's back with disbelief, "How is the data geek gonna help me?"

"Well for starters," Ethan swirled his chair around to face Kurai, "I suggest you refrain yourself from insulting me again since I'm holding your lifeline."

Kurai just narrowed his eyes annoyingly.

Alexander smiled, "Found something, Ethan?"

"Yeah," Ethan pressed "Enter" behind him as some screens popped on the large computer screen.

Alexander and Kurai glanced closer at the screens. Kurai's eyes widened in surprise, "What the?"

Alexander stopped smiling and narrowed his eyes, "This is…"

Ethan explained, "The emergency messages that Yuki received that night all came from PDA that was lost two years ago."

Alexander put his hand under his chin, "That means there was no attack last night. It was all trap set up by someone who wish to frame Yuki."

Ethan nodded, "Yeah but the question is who?"

Alexander smiled, "Well, it could be anyone since after all, Yuki has so many enemies that loathe his despicable guts."

Kurai glared at Alexander, "You're seriously pissing me off."

Alexander smiled, "One of my life's goals, Yuki."

* * *

"So, that's what happened." Jim was at the Osiris Red cafeteria telling the others about last night's incident.

"Basically," Tsubaki summarized, "Yuki got a cry for help and went into the girl's locker room and accidentally saw a girl named Eun Mi naked?"

Izumi asked, "Why can't we just explain to this Eun Mi person that it was all an accident?"

Jim replied, "I did try to explain to her but she wouldn't listen. She said regardless it was an accident or not, she kept insisting that Dark Boy need to pay."

Izumi frowned, "Now she's just being stupid! It was just an accident, there's no way Yuki would have done it."

"But she doesn't know Yuki that well, does she?" Rad pointed out.

Tsubaki sighed in annoyance, "So even if we plead for his case, it doesn't sound like she's going to let Yuki off that easily."

Izumi clenched her fist and declared, "Then we'll just have to convince her!"

Suddenly, a Ra yellow girl with long hair rushed in as it was an emergency. Izumi quickly recognized her, "Shizuka-san?"

Shizuka panted after running all the way from her dorm, "Is Yuki-san here?"

"No," Izumi swayed her head, "We don't where he is right now. Why?"

Shizuka answered, "Eun Mi is heading here!"

"KURAI YUKI!" A loud voice yelled out his name.

"What was that?" Izumi was surprised by the sheer loudness.

"It's coming from outside!" Jim stated. They quickly ran outside the cafeteria just to see Eun Mi herself, standing in front of a large crowd of angry girls of various dorms. Jim whistled in amazement, "Wow! That's lot of girls!"

Rad laughed, "Heh, Yuki is certainly very popular, isn't he?"

Shizuka had a sweat droplet behind her head as she glanced at Rad in disbelief at his positive comment, "I'm sure that's not it."

Eun Mi narrowed her eyes at the opposing group, "You guys are not Kurai Yuki."

"No, we're not," Izumi stepped forward, "But we're close friends of Yuki and we're not gonna standby and let you punish him for something stupid!"

"Stupid?" Eun Mi's eyes turned slit in rage as she roared, "You calling seeing a girl at her most private moment stupid? My dignity was taken away as soon as that hideous pervert saw me naked! And that's not all he did!"

A random girl shouted, "He saw me when I was changing clothes! My privacy was violated!"

Another girl yelled, "I swore someone was spying at me while I was asleep!"

Izumi asked, "Did you actually see who the peeping tom is?"

The girls gave various answers that sound like a "No…"

Izumi reasoned back, "Then how would you know it's Yuki? I admitted that Yuki did saw her naked but it was an accident! There's no way he's the same as the peeping tom from before!"

Eun Mi countered, "Then can you prove that the peeping tom is not Kurai Yuki?"

"Well, of course!" Izumi exclaimed.

Eun Mi countered more, "Do you have any evidence beside your words?"

Izumi asked, "What's wrong with my words?"

Eun Mi scoffed, "You ask me? You're Kurai's close friend. You could be making up lies just to defend him."

Izumi shouted, "That's not true!"

Eun Mi interrogated, "Well, aren't you not Kurai's close friend?"

"Uh…well…" Izumi struggled.

"See?" Eun Mi announced, "Without evidence, Kurai is guilty!"

"I have evidence!" A familiar voice yelled, interrupting the banter between the two women. Izumi's eyes widened in surprise as she spoke the owner's name, "Lisa?"

The crowd looked in a different direction where Lisa was now. She was standing behind the girls with Vanessa, her aide, behind her. Lisa crossed her arms, "I won't let you insult Lord Yuki as long as I'm around!"

"Lisa…" Izumi repeated her rival's name in awe. All those times that Izumi had to deal with Lisa, it was always trouble because they loathed each other's guts. But today, they may have different reasons but they shared a common goal.

"I have evidence that Lord Yuki is innocent!" Lisa announced.

Vanessa softly pulled Lisa's uniform from behind as she was trying to grab Lisa's attention, "Um…Miss Lisa…I don't think this is a good idea…"

"Nonsense, it's a great idea!" Lisa brushed her aide aside.

Eun Mi narrowed her eyes and refuted, "So what's your evidence?"

"The evidence…is that…" Lisa taunted as she said each word slowly. She suddenly clasped her hand over her upper chest, "Lord Yuki would never peek at any of you girls when he could have peeked at me!"

There was a second of an eerie silence with the winds blowing and the dried bush rolling across the ground. The second passed and suddenly, there was a wave of shock from everyone who couldn't believe how stupid it sounded.

Izumi snapped, "YOU CALL THAT AN EVIDENCE?" She nearly pulled her hair off in shock because she almost believed that Lisa was actually helping them out but instead she was just being Lisa, a narcissistic idiot.

Tsubaki roared, "THAT'S NOT EVEN GONNA HELP YUKI!"

Shizuka had a giant sweat droplet behind her head as she couldn't believe what she witnessed, "…I think…it just got even worse…"

Jim also felt a sweat drop dripping down the side of his head as he couldn't believe it too. He tilted his hat to hide his embarrassment, "I agree with you there…that crazy girl just made the "Dark Boy is a pervert" claim even stronger…"

Rad just laughed, "Lisa really like Yuki, huh?"

Eun Mi couldn't believe what she heard too. She thought that it was so stupid that she didn't even want to bother with it. She just scoffed and looked back at Izumi and the others.

Lisa gaped, "I'm being ignored?"

Vanessa sighed as she knew this would happened, "I said this was not a good idea…"

"That was a waste of time," Eun Mi complained, "Her words are useless."

"What about my words?" Shizuka stepped to the plate, "I'm sure you recognized me."

"You're…" Eun Mi recognized her even though she never met Shizuka before, "Shizuka Jounouchi, the number one 2nd Year Ra yellow student. Yes, I do heard of you…why are you defending a pervert like Kurai Yuki?"

"It's because that I knew that Yuki-san is not a pervert." Shizuka reasoned, "That is why I'm defending him. I'll admit that I don't know long as the others had but I seen his personality through his actions and I knew for sure that Yuki-san didn't mean to see you in your unguarded moment."

Eun Mi scowled, "If Kurai is not such a horrible guy as you claimed, then why is he not coming out to face me?"

Jim also stepped forward, "Would you even believe him if he told you that it was an accident? Heck, you certainly don't believe me when I tried to tell you."

Eun Mi responded, "I couldn't believe you because your reasons were far fetched."

Jim narrowed his eye, "What do you mean?"

Eun Mi gestured toward the girls behind her, "I have interviewed all of those girls and the rest at the Obelisk Blue dorms. There was no girl screaming around for help. If there was, don't you think someone might have heard it? I would have heard it too."

"That's impossible…" Jim doubted and then he remembered something, _'Wait a minute…yesterday night…when we were searching around…there were no one around…and Karen didn't even see anyone come out…did we just fell into a trap?' _His eye wavered, _'I need evidence…but how?'_

"But even if he is innocent…" Eun Mi closed her eyes, "It still doesn't change the fact he saw me at my most vulnerable moment…that's nothing you can't just casually shrug it off." She clenched both of her fists, "If Kurai is a true man, he should have step forward now and accept my punishment!" She pointed to Kurai's friends dramatically, "But he did not, therefore he is a coward!"

"That's not true…" Izumi was about to defend her friend but she was interrupted.

"Take that back!" Tsubaki glared at Eun Mi.

Izumi was surprised, "Tsubaki?"

"Why should I take it back?" Eun Mi ranted, "That guy didn't even bother showing up to face me. He's a coward, that's for sure!"

Tsubaki countered, "Okay, fine, Yuki is not here! That's true! But knowing Yuki, he's probably looking for evidence to prove your wrong! I'm sorry that he saw you naked but get over it! But it was an accident and Yuki will prove it!" He narrowed his eyes, "But he's anything but a coward!"

"What make you so sure about that?" Eun Mi demanded, "You could be just making random claims to buy him time!"

Tsubaki retorted, "Okay, fine! There's no reasoning with you, isn't it?" He narrowed his eyes angrily, "Then there's only one thing left to do." He pointed to Eun Mi dramatically, "I'll challenge you to a duel with my reputation at stake for Yuki!"

Everyone was surprised to hear that. Izumi gasped, "Tsubaki?"

Eun Mi narrowed her eyes, "Do you really want to do that? Knowing I am Obelisk Blue and you're Osiris Red, do you really want to challenge me with your reputation?"

Tsubaki gulped but he confirmed, "Yeah, I do!"

Eun Mi chuckled and then laughed, "You're an idiot but I'll give you credit for bravery." She became serious, "If I win, you'll take Kurai's punishment and get kicked off the island!"

"That's fine!" Tsubaki reaffirmed, "But if I win, you'll drop all this!"

Eun Mi agreed, "Fine with me. I'm a woman but I'm honorable duelist first, so I will keep my word as once the result is decided. The match will be at the Academy Center in an hour." She stormed away with the girls following her.

"Tsubaki!" Izumi wailed, "Why did you do that for? If you lose, you're gonna get kicked off the island!"

"Flower boy," Jim spoke in admiration, "I didn't think you would challenge one of the Four Emperors just like that. You're really cool there."

Rad asked, "Wow, Tsubaki, I didn't know you care about Yuki that much."

Tsubaki frowned, "It's not like that! I'm not doing it for the sake of friendship or something corny like that! I was doing it for myself!"

"For yourself?" Izumi asked.

Tsubaki answered, "The reason why I have been gone lately was that because I was training! I want to become strong or almost strong as Yuki! If Yuki get kicked off the island, then how I going to become stronger if he's not there? Plus…" He looked away, "He's definitely no coward. Sure, he's a cold hearted bastard, jerk, asshole but damnit, he's a really strong guy! You were there, Izumi, in all his duels! He never ran away, no matter how scary his opponent is! It's scary that I might get kicked off the island but how can I call myself a duelist if I backed down?" He clenched his fist, "I'm gonna to prove her wrong about Yuki and at the same time, I need to prove myself that I can do this…that I can make Yuki see me as a rival."

Izumi's eyes wavered in surprise. She didn't know that Tsubaki was thinking like that all this time. She couldn't help but felt little sad. All those times, she was just thinking how fun and carefree life was when she hanged out with them but deep inside…she knew Kurai had a goal that he wanted to achieve and now Tsubaki had a goal too. She looked at Tsubaki, "You better win, okay?"

"Heh," Tsubaki smiled slightly, "Don't worry, I will."

"Huh, look at you, trying to be all cool," Rad snickered, "yet your legs are shaking."

Tsubaki blushed out of embarrassment, "Shut up! I don't see you taking Yuki's place against her!"

Rad answered, "That's because I'm not that reckless or stupid as you."

Tsubaki glared at Rad, "What was that?" Rad just laughed.

Jim couldn't help but smiled slightly. He then noticed Shizuka's face as she was reminiscing, "What is it, Serene Girl?"

Shizuka blinked as she looked at Jim, _'Serene Girl?' _She questioned Jim's choice of nicknames. She looked back at the others, "It's nothing much. Just looking at him reminded me of Onii-san and how he would do the same thing if his friends were insulted."

"Is that so?" Jim kneeled by Karen, who was by his side all this time, and rubbed her head, "Dark Boy is certainly lucky to have such good friends." He then narrowed his eye in concern, "But…can Flower Boy really win against the Blue Empress?"

"I really want to believe in him," Shizuka admitted, "But it's hard to say…"

* * *

Soon after that meeting, everyone received a message on their PDA announcing the match between Osiris Red and Obelisk Blue in an hour at the Duel Academy stadium.

Back at Ethan's room at Obelisk dorms, the three boys received that message.

Kurai was actually surprised once he finished reading it.

Alexander closed his PDA, "Isn't that a surprise?" He glanced at Kurai, "Tsubaki is having a duel with Eun Mi in your place. He must have wanted to help you clear your name."

Kurai looked away, "Nobody asked him to fight my battle."

"You do realize this is bad, right?" Ethan warned, "You should know that Eun Mi is strong, so if Tsubaki lose to her, he'll be kicked out of the island in your place." He shrugged, "Not that you care anyway since he's the one who will be kicked out instead of you."

Kurai didn't answer. He looked down with his eyes hidden by his bangs. He mumbled, _'Why do those idiots wanted to help me so much?' _He then remembered all those times those idiots stuck together with him and saved his life at the ruin. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist as he was torn. He then walked out of the door.

Alexander was slightly surprised as he followed Kurai, "You're going to stop their duel?"

"Of course not," Kurai replied coldly, "the idiot chose to duel with her. So I'm not gonna interrupt."

"How cold." Ethan commented dully.

"But…" Kurai continued, "I'm not gonna let that idiot get kicked out in my place." He headed toward the stadium.

Ethan was surprised, "I was sure that he wouldn't care." He sighed, "I'll have to recalculate again."

Alexander smiled, "Heh, Yuki had changed a little since I first met him." He closed his eyes, "Well, I'm off. I'm gonna be watching with him. So continue looking for the true culprit." He quickly followed Kurai.

* * *

At the outskirts of the Duel Academia Island, two Osiris Red students were standing at the bottom of the cliffs nearby their dorms, staring at the ocean in the middle of the night.

Rei glanced at Judai, "Why did you keep quiet about me?"

Judai looked at Rei and asked, "You mean this afternoon?" He had seen Rei sneaked into the Kaiser's dorm room just this afternoon. At the same time, Judai had discovered her secret.

Rei looked away as she nodded once.

Judai stared back at the ocean, "A girl dressing up as a guy, and coming to a place like this…You probably have your reasons."

Rei immediately looked back at Judai and demanded, "Don't tell them! Don't tell anyone what you saw this afternoon!"

Judai kneeled down and opened his backpack, "When you ask someone for help, you should really explain why first…"

Rei clenched her hands and faced Judai, "I can't!"

Judai looked up with a smile and then offered her a duel disk, "Then, let's duel!"

Rei was surprised and confused, "Wait, what? Why would I do that?"

Judai stood up fully and answered, "Nobody can lie in a duel."

"Are you saying that you'll keep quiet about me, no questions asked, if I win?"

Judai nodded once, "Yeah, since I won't need to ask anything."

* * *

An hour had passed and the Duel Academy stadium was filled with students who were excited to witness Eun Mi's strength. Normally Morgan would have disapproved but the Principal allowed it as entertainment for students.

Izumi cheered from the audience seats, "You can do it, Tsubaki! Even if you have no hopes of winning at all, you can do it!"

Tsubaki had a giant sweat droplet on the back of his head as he received Izumi's cheer, "Jeeze, thanks for the confidence boost…"

Rad cheered too, "Tsubaki! Try to lose with a bang!"

Tsubaki immediately looked back and snapped at them, "How about some real support here?"

Eun Mi activated her Duel Disk and inserted her deck, "It's not too late to give up now, you know."

Tsubaki looked back with a serious frown, "I said I'll duel, so I won't back down!" He activated his duel disk too.

Both Duelists yelled, "Duel!" Their holographic Life Points showed up.

"You challenged me," Eun Mi offered, "So you have the right to go first!"

"That's fine with me! Draw!" Tsubaki drew the card, "I summon Cobalt Gem Dragon [**M1 (4/1200/1900)**] in defense!" A dark night blue skinned lizard came to the Field. It had thick cobalt crystals on its knees and hind legs. It also had a thin long tail with triple crystals at its tips. It immediately rested on its legs allowing its tail wrapped around the lizard in defense, "I then place one card face down." A card materialized behind the dark blue dragon.

"Typical first move. Draw!" Eun Mi drew her card, "Allow me to liven things up by playing this Field card, Ancient Forest!" [**S1**] Her field slot snapped open and she quickly placed the card, activating it. Trees suddenly grew from the field and surrounded both duelists. It was a beautiful forest that felt peaceful yet alluring and haunting.

Tsubaki looked around, "….there's something I don't like about this place."

Eun Mi smirked, "What's wrong with a peaceful forest? This field card has two effects. First, it changes all defense position monsters into attack position at all time!"

Tsubaki was surprised, "What?" His indigo-skinned dragon slowly stood up as it was being forced.

Eun Mi continued, "Secondly, this forest does not like fighting. So if your monster attacks, your monster gets destroyed!"

Tsubaki couldn't believe his ears, "Wait, if our monsters attacks, it gets destroyed? What kind of Field card is this?"

"A merciful Field card," Eun Mi placed another card, "I now summon Lonefire Blossom!" [**M2 (3/500/1400)**] A large bulb with entwined vine-like stem and purple leaves grew on the Field, "And I use its effect by sacrificing itself to special summon any Plant-type monster from my Deck!" The round bulb immediately disappeared into a golden globe of light.

"Eh?" Tsubaki was stunned.

Izumi repeated, "Any Plant-type monster from the deck? Isn't that kind of broken?"

Jim explained, "Not really, Spring Girl. Plant type is usually an unpopular type until there were new cards just recently."

"With those new cards, Eun Mi's deck became much stronger," Shizuka claimed, "But even without those cards, her deck was already strong."

Eun Mi chose a card from her deck and played it right away, "And I special summon Grim Wolf of the Tail Star!" [**M3 (6/2200/1000)**] The golden globe flashed as a grayish white furred wolf came out. It had dark green fur around its neck and paws with golden claws. Floating above the wolf was a circular shield coiled in thorny vines with white locust flowers growing on top of it.

"That's a plant type?" Tsubaki questioned in disbelief, "It looked like a beast type!"

Eun Mi confirmed, "It is a beast type but its effect allowed it to be plant-type, so it can be special summoned with Lonefire Blossom."

"Alright, I get it but since you just special summoned," Tsubaki immediately played his face-down card that had a picture of Battle Ox facing Celtic Guardian, "I activate Triggered Summon! This card allows both of us to special summon a Level 4 or lower monster from our Hand. I special summon Emerald Gem Dragon!" [**M4 (4/1800/1300)**] A green-skinned lizard with emerald wings and tail was summoned.

Eun Mi picked one card from her hand, "Then I pick Lord Poison!" [**M5 (4/1500/1000)**] A ghost-like creature made entirely of rotten wooden roots appeared on the Field with gnarly leech-like mouth and sharp claw-like roots that were sticking out all over its body. She then extended her hand toward Tsubaki's dragon, "Now I'm going to attack! Grim Wolf of the Tail Star! Attack Cobalt Gem Dragon with Fearsome Locust!" The wolf howled for battle and then ran across the Field. The wolf jumped high and launched its spinning shield toward the indigo gem dragon. The blunt weapon collided with the dragon, smashing it into smithereens.

Tsubaki winced as he shielded himself from flying bits. The wolf quickly ran back to its spot and the wooden shield returned above its furry body.

**Tsubaki: 4000 – 1000 = 3000. Eun Mi: 4000.**

Tsubaki lowered his duel disk, "When Cobalt Gem Dragon goes to the Graveyard, I can special summon a Cobalt Gem Pup Token!" [**Cobalt Gem Pop Token (1/100/100)**] Leftover cobalt hatched into a tiny baby dragon with small indigo crystals on its shoulders and hinds. He then noticed a green fungus with purple roots growing on Eun Mi's Field, "What the hell is that?"

Eun Mi smirked, "When my Grim Wolf destroys a monster as a result of battle, I can special summon one Wicked Plant token (**1/800/800**) to my field." She pointed her finger toward the sky, "And now the Ancient Forest's effect activates! Because my Grim Wolf had attacked, it gets destroyed but that wouldn't work."

"What do you mean?" Tsubaki yelled.

Eun Mi chuckled, "My Grim Wolf has an effect that prevents it from being destroyed by sacrificing a plant-type monster! So I sacrifice Wicked Plant Token!" The green fungus dissolved into energy dust that absorbed into the wolf's shield, "Also when I use this effect, it gains additional 200 ATK!" The shield grew another locust flower as the wolf howled to celebrate his increasing power. [**Grim Wolf of the Tail Star: 2200 + 200 = 2400**]

"Turn end!" Eun Mi announced and then laughed proudly, "What do you think of my first combo? With Ancient Forest, your monsters have to be in Attack mode, allowing my Grim Wolf to destroy it and gain a Wicked Plant Token. It gets destroyed by Ancient Forest's effect but I canceled my wolf's death by sacrificing Plant token and gain 200 ATK! So in three more attacks, my Wolf will become strong as Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

The audience cheered in amazement of Eun Mi's deadly combo set up in her first turn.

Jim praised, "That's deadly combo unless you have some spell or monster destroying cards, he's not gonna be able to defeat it."

Shizuka commented, "That's Obelisk Blue for you."

Tsubaki muttered, _'With Ancient Forest on the Field, I can't put my monsters in defense!' _He glanced at his hand, _'For now, I'm gonna have to summon a higher ATK monster to lose life points less as possible.' _He yelled, "Draw!" He drew the top card and added it to his Hand, "I place two cards face down." A face-down card was set behind his dragons, "Then I sacrifice both of my monsters to summon my most powerful monster!" The older and younger dragons both dissolved as a white lightning struck the field and nearly blinded the audience, "Gratia Gem Dragon!" [**M6 (7/2700/2200)**] A giant dragon made its magnificent entrance as it flapped open its white diamond wings with obsidian inner scales. It had beautiful pure diamond skin with black obsidian chest. It also had red crystallized plates on its spine, and golden horns and claws, "Also, since Emerald Gem Dragon was sent to the Graveyard, I can special summon Emerald Gem Pup!" [**Token (1/100/100)**] A thick emerald rose to the Field and hatched into a small baby dragon adorned with small emerald crystal wings, "Gratia Gem Dragon's effect activates! It increases its ATK by 300 for each Rock type on the Field and there are two of them, so it gets 600 ATK increase! Turn end." [**Gratia Gem Dragon: 2700 + 600 = 3300**]

Eun Mi questioned, "Not even going to attack?"

Tsubaki replied, "This field card is an inappropriate battlefield from my dragon!"

Eun Mi scoffed, "You're just a boy who doesn't wanna lose his toy. If your dragon attacks, it'll get destroyed by the Ancient Forest."

Tsubaki retorted, "So what if I don't wanna lose my dragon?"

"Heh, let me tell you something interesting," Eun Mi suddenly declared, "I, Eun Mi, will never conduct a direct attack on my opponents!"

Tsubaki was surprised, "What?" He was not the only one surprised. The audience was also surprised and started whispering to each other, wondering why Eun Mi wouldn't use direct attacks since all duelists do.

Eun Mi explained, "Doing a direct attack in duel when your opponents have no weapons is an underhanded method I refuse to do! I'm a girl of justice who will become a heroine! So I win my battles without even one direct attack!"

Rad was amazed, "Wow! That's pretty amazing if she can win without direct attacks."

Izumi looked at Shizuka since Alexander was not there at the moment, "Is it possible to win duels without direct attacks?"

Shizuka answered, "There are types of cards that can do that like Burn Damages and Special Victories like Exodia."

Jim chipped in, "Plus, the plant-type is well-known for summoning tokens to opponent's field."

Tsubaki narrowed his eyes, "So what if my field is empty and you have all the opportunity to make a direct attack?"

Eun Mi confirmed, "Then I won't make a direct attack. I'm a woman of my word! I won't make any direct attacks. Beside that's what my deck is for! Draw!" She drew the card, "I play Pot of Greed!" A green pot with a greedy smile appeared behind the blue-haired girl. She drew two cards and smiled as she just drew good cards, "Rose Fairy's effect activates! When she is added to my Hand from my Deck by any card's effects, I can special summon her to the Field! Come out, Rose Fairy!" [**M7 (3/600/1200)**] A small pink fairy flew to the Field with four petal wings and a large rosebud on top of her head, "You'll regret not attacking because I sacrifice Rose Fairy," Her flower fairy dissolved, "to summon Vindictive Monk of the Winnowing Basket Star!" [**M8 (5/1000/1000)**] It was a small bald child monk sitting in a cross-legged position while levitating on a flat flower platform. It wore a dark blue monk's robe with decorative pink petals on the sleeves. Around his neck were black prayer beads with a medallion in the middle that had a picture of dahlia.

Tsubaki was surprised, "It only has ATK of 1000?"

Eun Mi taunted, "You should know that any high level monster with low ATK has powerful effects! Observe! Vindictive Monk! Dahlia Possession!" The child monk started praying and glowed ominously with black vile aura. The diamond dragon suddenly screeched in pain as it was covered entirely in the same vile aura.

Tsubaki looked back at his dragon with concern, "Gratia Gem Dragon!"

Then a thin slit appeared on the monk's forehead and snapped open to reveal a demonic third eye that immediately enhanced the monk's power even further. The giant dragon was suddenly wrapped in black vines, causing the mighty creature to take a step forward and stomp toward Eun Mi's Field.

Tsubaki yelled, "Gratia Gem Dragon?" The dragon turned around to face Tsubaki and roared, saying that he's the enemy now. The child monk had glided backward behind the dragon.

Eun Mi explained, "Vindictive Monk can equip himself to any one of your monster and possessed control of it. And that's not all it does! Vindictive Monk! Vengeful Summoning!" The monk prayed more and the dragon roared in pain as vines were sapping energy from it, "By lowering the possessed monster's ATK by 500, I can special summon a Flower token [**Token: Dark/Plant/1/0/0**] to your side of field in defense!" The dragon winced as its strength was weakened. [**Gratia Gem Dragon: 3300 – 500 = 2800**] Black roots gathered in Tsubaki's field and formed a stem that grew a beautiful dahlia flower. Due to the spiritual impact of the forest, the flower opened its bud further, indicating it was in attack mode.

Jim's eye wavered in shock and amazement, "Unbelievable! She is really strong as the rumors said. It's no wonder she's one of the Four Emperors, she completely manipulated the entire Field. And not to mention that she claimed that she doesn't need direct attacks, she wouldn't need one just by summoning weak token on her opponent's Field for free attacks!"

Shizuka pointed out, "And when the Grim Wolf gets destroyed, he just gets even stronger than before."

Rad gulped, "Tsubaki is in deep trouble and it's only has been two turns lately!"

Izumi's eyes quivered and she could only watch in concern, "Tsubaki…"

Eun Mi smirked at the size of her Field compared to Tsubaki's size of Field, "Let's do this again." She gestured to her wolf, "Grim Wolf! Attack the Flower token with Fearsome Locust!" The wolf howled as it obeyed its master's command and then ran across the field toward the lone dahlia on Tsubaki's side.

Tsubaki gritted his teeth, "I activate my trap card, Negate Attack!" His face down card flipped up and formed a barrier that prevented the wolf from going forward, "With this card, I end your battle phase!"

Eun Mi smirked, "You get to survive another turn, huh? Alright, let's fight a little longer then. I place one card face down." A face-down card was set next to the child monk." Turn End." The audience cheered at her skillful control of the Field.

Tsubaki didn't say anything as he just tossed the trap card into his Graveyard slot. Cold sweats were dripping all over his body. Tsubaki had never faced such a strong opponent and felt such an overwhelming pressure from the opponent's incredible aura. He gulped, _'Yuki…Yuki had been facing these kind of opponents? How…can he still be confident…?'_

Izumi noticed Tsubaki's hesitance, "Is…Tsubaki scared?"

"Who wouldn't be?" Rad admitted, "I would be scared too if I'm facing a really strong Obelisk Blue duelist."

Izumi clenched her hands together as she was praying for Tsubaki's sake. She then reckoned, "I felt the same way before…when I dueled against Wolx from the North Duel Academy…he was an Obelisk Blue too…I don't really know anything but…just by facing me…I felt pressured by him…"

Jim tilted his hat downward to hide the concern in his eye, "But Flower Boy has more pressure than that. It's his membership that's at status here."

Tsubaki closed his eyes as he held the sole card in his Hand, _'Just…what can I do? All I have is two Tokens on the Field while she has practically an almost entire Field of powerful monsters, one of them being my trump card!' _The diamond dragon suddenly roared as it grabbed Tsubaki's attention. He quickly looked up and stared at his dragon who continued to roar in pain. He then gritted his teeth as he couldn't just watch his monster suffered, _'What the hell am I doing? There's no way I can stop here!' _He yelled, "Draw!" He drew the card and played it right away, "I play Pot of Greed! I will draw two cards!" The green pot appeared and quickly shattered as he drew two cards. He glanced at them and asked, "Hey, that kid of yours?"

Eun Mi narrowed her eyes, "You mean the Vindictive Monk?"

Tsubaki nodded, "Yeah. Right now, he's equipment card, right?"

Eun Mi confirmed, "Of course."

Tsubaki smirked with confidence, "Then I can do this! I play Mystical Space Typhoon!" He played it and the magic card appeared face up with a lightning bolt in the center of a typhoon, "Being an Obelisk Blue, I'm sure you're familiar with this staple card. And the card I chose to destroy is that twisted kid who took my dragon!" A typhoon came out of the card and traveled horizontally across the field. It struck the bald child and destroyed with him with lightning bolts. The black vines wrapped around the dragon rotted away as it lost its powers. The dragon roared proudly as it gained its strength back. [**Gratia Gem Dragon: 2800 + 500 = 3300**] It then flew back to its rightful owner's Field, "I then summon Ruby Gem Dragon!" [**M9 (4/1900/1200)**] A crimson-skinned lizard jumped to the Field with thick red crystals on both shoulders, "Also, I'll activate my trap card, Cut Jewel!" [**T2**] His face down card revealed itself with a picture of a samurai slicing a rough ruby in half, "By sending a Gem Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard, I can cut one of my opponent's monster's ATK by half and the monster I chose is the Grim Wolf!" He pointed to the wolf which was suddenly weakened. [**Grim Wolf: 2400 – 1200 = 1200**]

Tsubaki shouted, "Ruby Gem Dragon, attack Grim Wolf with Crimson Claw!" The red wingless dragon pounced across the Field as it was ready to shred the wolf apart.

"Not so fast!" Eun Mi countered, "I too activate my trap card, Plant Food Chain!" [**T3**] Her face down card also showed itself with a picture of Botanical Girl about to be eaten by Gigantic Cephalotus, "This card can equip to my Plant-type monster and increase its ATK by 500! And that monster I chose is my Grim Wolf!" The weakened wolf gained more power. [**Grim Wolf of the Tail Star: 1200 + 500 = 1700**].

Tsubaki retorted, "But my Ruby Gem Dragon is still stronger!" The dragon pounced on the wolf, smashing the beast with its heavy weight, "And since I destroyed the wolf with the help of Cut Jewel, you get to draw a card."

**Tsubaki: 3000. Eun Mi: 4000 – 200 = 3800.**

Eun Mi scoffed as she drew a card, "Do you think I activate that trap card just to increase my wolf's ATK?" Tsubaki narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "When Plant Food Chain goes to the Graveyard, I can special summon a Plant-type monster from the Graveyard."

Tsubaki's eyes widened in realization, "So you're gonna revive the wolf? Lonefire Blossom?"

Eun Mi answered, "Nope to both. The sad thing about the wolf and the child monk was that they don't count as Plant types in the Graveyard. And if I chose Lonefire Blossom, there's no doubt that you'll attack it with your strongest gem dragon. So no, I choose Rose Fairy." A small fairy with rosebud as her hair came back to the Field in attack position.

Tsubaki asked, "What make you think that I won't attack the Rose Fairy?"

Eun Mi dared, "Can you? Do you wanna lose your dragon to the Ancient Forest?"

Tsubaki gritted his teeth, "No…" He continued, "Since I sent Topaz Gem Dragon [**M10 (4/1600/1500)**] to the Graveyard with Cut Jewel, I special summon Topaz Gem Pup Token!" [**Token (Earth/Rock/1/100/100)**] A small brown chubby dragon with topaz gem appeared. The trees grew bright and targeted the Ruby Gem Dragon, causing him to dissolve and leave behind a thick broken ruby crystal, "Since Ruby Gem Dragon goes to the Graveyard by Ancient Forest, I special summon Ruby Gem Pup Token!" The broken ruby hatched and revealed a small cute red dragon with two rubies on its shoulders, "Then I play a magic card, Rare Value." [**S2**] His card showed itself with an image of two cards under a rough emerald next to a rough ruby, "By destroying Topaz Gem Token, I can draw two cards!" He drew two cards, "And since I have one more Rock monster on the Field, my Gratia Gem Dragon gets another 300 ATK boost!" The Gratia Gem Dragon roared as its scales shone brighter, [**Gratia Gem Dragon: 3300 + 300 = 3600.**] _'With Ancient Forest on the Field, all my Gem Pup tokens have to be an attack…if I let one attack through, it's gonna cause a lot of damage…' _He inserted one card in the S/T slot of his duel disk, causing a face down card to materialize, "I set one card down. Turn End."

"Even with your monster get stronger, you still hesitate?" Eun Mi sighed, "You miss your chance of causing lot of damage."

Tsubaki retorted, "I'm just waiting for the right moment!"

Eun Mi chuckled, "Heh…I'll give you some credit for surviving this far for an Osiris Red. But…" She boasted, "The longer I duel, I use more of my strength."

Tsubaki uttered, "What?"

Eun Mi explained, "I never use my true strength at the beginning of the match. If I use it right away, it wouldn't be too much fun. Plus this way, I can gauge my opponent's strength and from the looks of it, your doesn't seem very impressive."

Tsubaki scowled, "It's not over yet!"

Eun Mi smiled with confidence, "But it'll soon be. Draw!" She added another card to her large Hand, "I sacrifice Rose Fairy to summon Graceful Magician of the Root Star!" [**M11 (6/500/2500)**] A tall slender magician was summoned. He wore gaudy yellow robes as he was in a drama show with decorative fiery flower petals on his sleeves and sides. He also wore black boots with curved stripes and long red cape made of pink petals. He had a white face paint decorated with green make up and a headband with peacock feathers attached to the behind.

Tsubaki blinked, "A spellcaster? But let me guess it's also considered as a plant-type?"

Eun Mi nodded, "Yep."

Tsubaki questioned, "What's with all the Stars in their names?"

Eun Mi giggled, "That's a secret but if you last long enough…you'll be able to see that secret." She then declared, "Now I'm gonna use my Graceful Magician's effect!" The magician started twirling in graceful circles, his petal-like sleeves gently flowing, "I can destroy a Field card related to Tree and gain 1500 Life Points! So you're in luck because I'm gonna destroys the Ancient Forest!" The magician suddenly stopped dancing and spread out a magic ring that dissolved the forest into energy dusts that gathered to Eun Mi, restoring her stamina.

**Tsubaki: 3000. Eun Mi: 3800 + 1500 = 5300.**

Eun Mi continued, "And when my Magician used that effect, I can get any Field or continuous Spell card related to Tree from my deck." She grabbed one card from her deck, "And the card I chose is The World Tree! And naturally, I'll play it." [**S3**] She inserted the card into S/T slot and suddenly, thick brown roots gathered behind Eun Mi and the monsters and quickly grew into a humongous tree that was so wide that it nearly covered the entire field and so high that it reached the top of the stadium. The audience just watched in awe of a magnificent tree.

Rad exclaimed, "Wow! That's one huge tree!"

Izumi stared all the way up, "But a giant tree like this would have some powerful effect, right?"

Shizuka nodded, "It does. When used right in a plant deck, it could be one of the most powerful cards."

Jim glanced at Tsubaki who was staring up at the tree too, "Now how is he gonna counter this?"

Tsubaki averted his eyes from the tree to Eun Mi, "What did this card do now?"

Eun Mi answered, "Don't worry, it doesn't have the same effect as the Ancient Forest, so your precious dragon can attack without consequences. As for the World Tree, every time a Plant-type monster is destroyed, the tree gained a Flower Counter and when it has enough, I can use them to activate an effect." She touched her monster card and switched it horizontally, "I place Lord Poison in defense and set one card face down." The vile creature covered itself with its thorn while a card appeared behind it, "Turn end."

Tsubaki taunted, "Huh? You didn't take the chance to attack my dragon pups with your monsters? Now who's the cautious one?"

"Heh," Eun Mi expressed your confidence, "Say what you want. I'm still in total control here."

Tsubaki growled as he knew that she was right, "Draw!" He drew the card, "Your magician is in attack mode, so I'll destroy him!" He ordered his giant dragon, "Gratia Gem Dragon! Attack that clown! Blinding Prism Flash!" The dragon opened its mouth and started gathering colored energies into a prism sphere. The creature then fired a rainbow fire breath toward the Graceful Magician.

"My Graceful Magician's second effect activates!" Eun Mi announced, "I can direct your attack to a monster of my choice! Your new target is Lord Poison!" The Magician suddenly moved his arms as he was doing a Magician's trick. He suddenly disappeared with a smoke explosion and replacing him was the ghastly creature. The beam continued on and burned the root monster into ashes, "When Lord Poison was destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard, I can special summon any Plant type from the Graveyard except Lord Poison."

"Any plant type?" Tsubaki's eyes shook in realization, "Not that monster again!"

Eun Mi smiled, "That's right! Revive, Lonefire Blossom!" Entwined purple stems rose from her Field and grew a large bulb with a glowing sparks coming from its mouth.

Izumi shouted, "That means Eun Mi get to summon another powerful plant-type monster again!"

Jim narrowed his eye, "And knowing that Blue Girl, she probably summon another one of the "Stars" monster."

Shizuka noted, "They're all high level monsters with amazing effects. I wonder if there's a goal for summoning so many of them."

Rad glanced at the others and pointed out, "Plus not to mention she said there's a secret about those monsters. Do you think he'll survive long enough to see it?"

Jim averted his eye to Rad, "Well, so far so good, considering he made it this long."

Tsubaki gritted his teeth as he knew that his gem pups and the flower token were not strong enough to destroy the bulb. He quickly mentioned the dragon's effect, "When Gratia Gem Dragon destroys a monster in battle, it cause 300 damages to you!" The white dragon shone brightly and flashed Eun Mi with blinding light.

**Tsubaki: 3000. Eun Mi: 5300 – 300 = 5000.**

Eun Mi brushed the dust off her sleeve, "That was a lucky shot. Also," She raised her hand to the giant tree, "When Lord Poison was destroyed, the World Tree gains a Flower counter." A bulb appeared on one of the branches and bloomed into a flower.

Tsubaki looked down at his small Hand and knew there's nothing he could do at the moment. He averted his eyes back to the field and ordered, "I put all my Gem Pups and Flower Token in defense now that the Ancient Forest is gone." The baby dragons crouched in defense while the wicked flower closed its bud, "Turn end."

"Draw!" Eun Mi drew her card and then played it right away, "I play Graceful Charity! I draw three and then discard two!" She drew the top three cards and smiled brightly, "Lucky!" She just discarded the top two as she just grinned, "These will be nice in the future."

Tsubaki narrowed his eyes as he was cautious of her words, _'Did she just discarded powerful monsters?'_

Eun Mi continued, "I play my favorite magic card I just drew! The Blessings of Risshun!" [**S4**] Her card immediately showed up with beautiful scenery of cherry blossoms trees fully bloomed and the pink petals blowing across a fresh a meadow nearby a river. Strangely, there was a shadow silhouette of a long serpentine dragon in the sky on the picture, "Once per turn, I can double any damage caused by my cards as long as I don't attack you directly or the card will destroy itself.

Tsubaki's eyes grew in completely shock, "That's why you said you would never attack directly…"

Eun Mi smirked, "That's right. It's because of this trump card I can defeat any of my enemies with a swift and brutal blow of justice!"

Jim gaped, "Wow! That's one powerful card!"

Shizuka gulped, "Even though it prevent from you attacking directly, you can still do lot of damages with that card especially when plant-type monsters are capable of summoning tokens on your opponent's field for free attacks or powerful burn damages."

Eun Mi goes on, "I also play another cool magic card, Seed Cannon!" [**S5] **Her spell card quickly appeared as batches of thick thorny vines grew on her Field, "Each time a Plant-type monster get summoned, it gets a Plant counter. And when I send this card to the Graveyard, I can do 500 damages to you for each counter!"

Tsubaki's eyes grew even more, "That means…combined with the other magic card…"

Eun Mi proclaimed, "I can do twice the damage," She grabbed another card, "I summon Horseytail!" [**M12 (2/400/500)**] A small living horsetail was summoned and started to dance to its own music of living notes made out of cheery. The horsetail was light brown and had thin plant stalk-like arms and legs. It also wore a red bowtie to enhance its cuteness, "Because I summoned a Plant-type monster, Seed Cannon gain a Plant Counter!" A thick orange flower bub grew from one of the thorn stalk. "Then I use Lonefire Blossom's effect! I sacrifice Horseytail!" The cute horsetail suddenly stopped dancing and then clasped its face in horror. The bulb immediately aimed toward the horsetail and shot fireworks that burned the small creature down. Its cuteness was short-lived, "To special summon another Star monster, Fair Assassin of the Chamber Star!" [**M13 (6/2300/1600)**] The ashes of the horsetail glowed red and then a slim agile woman flew out of the ashes as she was reborn. She was beautiful with dark red hair tied into a ponytail at the side and radiant makeup that would make any rose wilt in disgrace. She wore a thin rose red armor with rose petal-shaped like shoulder pads and waist armor over her small pink skirt. She wielded a thin rapier with a rose-shaped hilt, "Since my Assassin is considered as a Plant-type, it adds another Plant counter to my Seed Cannon!" Right on cue, the second orange bulb grew from the vine.

Eun Mi pointed to Gratia Gem Dragon, "Now, it's time to use my Assassin's effect! I can reduce one of my opponent's monster's ATK to zero!"

Tsubaki shouted, "What?"

Eun Mi ordered, "Fair Assassin! Rose Lightning!" The assassin raised her rapier to the sky and summoned forth a pink lightning that was absorbed to her sword. She then thrust her sword forward toward the white dragon and shot a lightning bolt that shocked the dragon tremendously. The dragon roared out of pain as it felt weaker. [**Gratia Gem Dragon: 3600 – 3600 = 0.**]

Tsubaki watched his dragon with worries, "Gratia Gem Dragon!" He narrowed his eyes back at Eun Mi, "Reduce a monster's ATK to zero without any drawback? That's broken!"

Eun Mi scoffed, "Who said there's no drawback?"

Tsubaki asked, "There is?"

Eun Mi answered, "Any battle damage with the affected monster is zero. So you won't get any damage if I destroy your dragon."

Tsubaki's eyes quavered as he stammered, "D-d-des…destroy?"

"That's right!" Eun Mi affirmed, "Fair Assassin! Destroy the dragon with Justice Stab!" The female assassin immediately jumped toward the giant dragon as she was soaring. She then stabbed her rapier through the white dragon's head. The dragon howled as it collapsed to the ground with a loud bang, creating a shockwave that nearly blew the audience off their seats.

Tsubaki braced the impact wave with his arms. As soon as the wave passed him, he immediately lowered his arms and saw his dragon. He cried, "Gratia Gem Dragon!" He could only witness his mighty mythical lizard dissolved away. Tsubaki's eyes shook with sadness as he never seen the mighty dragon defeated before. He quickly closed his eyes and shook away the initial tears. He quickly glared back and was about to roar but he then noticed her sole face-down card was now face up with a picture of a red flower's petals being blown away and exploding, "What the…?"

Eun Mi crossed her arms, "Even though I couldn't do any battle damage when I killed your dragon, that doesn't mean.." She waved her finger as she was teasing Tsubaki, "that I can't do effect damage." She pointed to her new face-up card, "I activate my trap card, Blossom Bombardment. [**T4**] This card can only activates when my Plant-type monster destroy your monster and when that happens, this card can do damage to you equal to the original ATK of the destroyed monster."

Izumi gasped, "That's the same effect as Yuki's E-Merc Blazing Windman except his was DEF."

"That means Tsubaki is gonna receive 2700 damage!" Rad exclaimed, "Almost enough to wipe his Life Points!"

"No," Jim corrected Rad, "It's more than enough!"

Rad looked at Jim in confusion, "Eh?"

Shizuka explained, "The Blessings of Risshun…can do twice the damage…"

Izumi's eyes widened with shock and concern. She screamed, "Tsubaki!"

"You'll only get 2700 damage but I'm not going to show you mercy!" Eun Mi shouted, "I use the Blessings of Risshun to double the damage of Blossom Bombardment! So go, blossoms! Destroy him with 5400 damages!" Her trap card suddenly fired a vortex of red petals toward Tsubaki. Her continuous card, the Blessings of Risshun, glowed brightly and made the petal vortex even bigger and stronger.

Tsubaki just stood there with his eyes hidden by his bangs as he was waiting for the petals to come to him. As the petals were getting closer, he slowly raised his hand toward the Duel Disk and pressed a button, "Trap card activate." Suddenly, a wall of rainbow surrounded Tsubaki and his remaining monsters. The vortex went through the rainbow wall and the petals were immediately changed into sparkling rainbow dust that showered on the Osiris duelist.

**Tsubaki: 3000 + 5400 = 8400. Eun Mi: 5000.**

For the first time, Eun Mi was surprised as she didn't expect that. She thought that she had control of the Field with all her deadly combos and her Star monsters. She protested, "What did you do? How can it heal your Life Points?"

Tsubaki still looked down but he then explained, "The trap card I activated was Rainbow Life." [**T5**] His face-down card was now face-up with a picture of a Ra Yellow student surrounded in rainbow and was about to be attacked by Giant Orc and Terrorking Archfiend, "By discarding one card, I turn all damage into recovery until the end of this turn." He slowly looked up and glared intently at Eun Mi, "What make you think I'm gonna let you tamper with my dragon's corpse and use it again me?" He tossed the trap card along with the card he needed to discard into the Graveyard slot, "I thought you would do this, so I set this trap card in advance."

The audience just stared in awe as the weaker duelist now had double the Life Points he started with. Izumi closed her eyes in happiness and then waved excitedly, "Alright, Tsubaki! That was awesome!"

Rad cupped his hands around his mouth, "Keep it up, Tsubaki!"

Jim pushed his hat upward with a finger flick as he no longer needed to look down, "Heh, I thought Dark Boy was good but Flower Boy is not so bad."

"Hmph.." Eun Mi scoffed as she was unafraid of Tsubaki's rage, "You must been a cat in your past life because you just narrowly avoided so many life and death situations. Heh, this is fun and it has been a while since my opponent survived this long. Not to worry, there is lot of opportunities to hurt you. Plus…" She held up three fingers, "Three more Star monsters and the secret will be out." She slit her eyes as she chuckled slowly, "When that secret comes…there's no way of winning."

Tsubaki slit his eyes too, "So I guess I better take away all your Life Points before that secret comes out."

Eun Mi giggled, "Yeah, you better if you want a really small chance of winning. Turn end."

"Draw!" Tsubaki silently cursed as he didn't drew a good card, "I set two cards face down." He placed both cards face-down, "Turn end." The only thing he could do now is to survive another turn and hope for the best.

Eun Mi sighed in disappointment, "I guess that last move was a fluke and maybe the only thing you're actually good at is surviving." She gasped, "So you're like a super villain who kept coming back from the grave!"

Tsubaki blinked in disbelief with a sweat droplet dripping behind his head, "Um…where the hell did that come from? And it's your turn?" He stated the obvious.

"Don't rush to your grave, Osiris guy. Draw!" Eun Mi drew her card and shouted, "I activate Lonefire Blossom's effect!"

"Not again!" Tsubaki complained.

"I sacrifice Lonefire Blossom itself!" The bulb disappeared in array of fireworks as Eun Mi grabbed a card from her deck, "To special summon another Star monster, Proud Fighter of the Horn Star!" [**M14 (5/2000/1800)**] An athletic teenage boy arrived on the Field. He had mossy green hair with black flowery headband. He wore a sky blue fighter's robes with pink petals decorated all above his long black pants. He wielded a sharp thin whip, "This one is unique because when this monster is special summoned, I can special summon Tragic Flutist of the Neck Star too!" [**M15 (5/1800/2000)**] Another teenage boy arrived too. From the look of his appearance, he seemed to be the twin brother of the first boy except he had purple headband. His fighter's robes were violet decorated with purple petals over black pants. Instead of a whip, he wielded a flute.

Tsubaki stammered, "Two…two more stars! That means…"

Eun Mi finished, "It means there's one star left but I doubt you'll get the chance to see it." She pointed her arm toward the thorny batch, "Two Plant-Types were summoned, so that's two Seed Counters for the Seed Cannon!" Two more orange buds grew from the stalks, "Let's begin the battle phase! Proud Fighter! Attack the Flower token with Thistle Hurricane!" The fighter picked up his whip and suddenly swung it in various directions. The Flower token was sliced into uneven pieces that shattered as it fell on the Field, "When Proud Fighter destroys a Plant-type monster, I can add Lv.3 or lower Plant-Type monster from my deck to my Hand!" Eun Mi quickly chose her card from the deck, "The card I chose is Dandylion!" [**M16 (3/300/300)**] The card had a picture of a small cute lion with sunflower mane, "Next, I activate the Tragic Flutist's effect!" The flutist then played a solemn melody, "By skipping his chance to attack, I can special summon Lv.3 or lower Plant-Type monster to the Field." She placed the card she just grabbed on her Duel Disk, "Of course, I summon Dandylion!" The sunflower lion appeared and took the last slot, "When I use this effect, I have to special summons copy token just for you."

Tsubaki wailed, "Another token?" A grayish copy of Sunflower lion appeared on Tsubaki's Field.

Eun Mi smirked, "Since two Plant-Type monsters were summoned, Seed Cannon gain more counters!"

"What?" Tsubaki yelled.

Eun Mi joked, "Actually, Seed Cannon can only have maximum of five counters. So it only add one more." The final orange bud had grown and the entire batch of thorn stalks had covered the entire backside of the Field and surrounded the World Tree, "Continuing on with the battle, Fair Assassin, attack Copy Token with Justice Stab!" The female assassin leapt forward and sliced the sunflower beast token in half, "Since two Plant-types were destroyed, the World Tree gained two more Flower counters." Two more flowers grew on the tree branches, "Now, moving on to Main Phase 2! I'm gonna send Seed Cannon to the Graveyard!"

Tsubaki's eyes wavered as he knew what would happen next.

Eun Mi shouted, "There's five Seed Counters, so that's 2500 damages but combined with the Blessings of Risshun, that's 5000 damages! Lucky for you, you got a huge amount of Life Points otherwise this would have been your last turn." She clenched her fist, "Seed Cannons! Fire!" All five orange flower bulbs opened and fired seeds like a machine gun. The Blessings of Risshun card glowed again and there were more seed bullets than before.

Tsubaki screamed as he endured an endless shower of sharp seeds. The shower poured harder and forced Tsubaki tumbling across the stadium stage until he almost fell of the edge.

**Tsubaki: 8400 – 5000 = 3400. Eun Mi: 5000.**

The audience cheered at Eun Mi's incredible combo while Tsubaki's friends just watched with worries. Izumi yelled, "Tsubaki!"

* * *

"That was quite a dangerous blow…" Alexander commented as he was standing on the far stands and out of sight, "Don't you think so, Yuki?"

Kurai was standing near Alexander. His arms were crossed and his gaze was focused. He had watched the entire battle from the beginning. He suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked back as he felt a presence.

"Kurai Yuki…so you're the man that Master Hyun Ki admired…" Sung Min walked out of the shadow of the stands, "Also the man who seen poor Miss Eun Mi naked."

Alexander smiled, "Ah, you must be Sung Min," He recognized him, "The Black Emperor of the North."

Kurai slit his eyes, "Do you come to take me to her?"

Sung Min swayed his head, "Not really."

Kurai questioned, "Why not? Didn't I just offend your comrade?"

Sung Min smiled softly, "I know what you did but I had done my research under Master Hyun-Ki's command. We're already aware that someone is trying to frame you."

"So you knew…" Kurai crossed his arms, "Then how come that crazy ditz is still after me?"

Sung Min sighed, "Eun Mi is a strong willed girl. She won't let go of anything regardless the reasons until justice is served."

Kurai scoffed, "What a psycho."

Sung Min stared at Kurai, "What about you? I thought you would take your poor friend's position and duel her."

Kurai looked away, "Hmph."

Alexander smiled, "He does fully intend to take over." That earned a dangerous glare from Kurai, "But if he does that, it would wound Tsubaki's pride greatly since it was Tsubaki himself who challenged her for Yuki's sake. The least Yuki can do is watch it to the very end."

Sung Min blinked in slight surprise, "Is that so? Hmm…I guess you're not bad as I thought."

* * *

"Turn end." Eun Mi sent the magic card to the Graveyard slot, causing the thorn stalks to disappear, "Hey, Osiris Guy, aren't you going to get up?"

Tsuabki groaned as he slowly got up on his arms. He was panting as he felt the pain almost unbearable. Even though it was a hologram, it was still a heavy blow, thanks to the damage system installed in the Duel Disk. He gathered his breath and slowly turned around to face a menacing Field. Eun Mi's slots were all filled with powerful Star monsters along with Sunflower lion. There's also the World Tree behind them with Flower counters and that strong magic card that can caused double damage. His eyes shook with fear and worries as he knew the situation was bad for him.

"Well?" Eun Mi was feeling impatient as she wanted to finish this duel and serve justice, "If you're not going to draw, you might as well give up since your Field only consists of few tokens and your Hand is empty too while my Field is practically full."

Tsubaki didn't answer. He remained staring at the Field. Luckily for him, his eyes were hiding in the shadows of his bangs because he didn't want to show his fear to the audience. He bravely took a step forward as he walked back to his spot. He raised his Duel Disk but he didn't raise his other arm. He stared at his deck and pondered if he should draw.

"You know if you give up now," Eun Mi offered, "I'll break the bet as long as you helped me look for Kurai."

Tsubaki didn't move an inch as he still held his duel disk up.

"Well?" Eun Mi prodded.

"No." Tsubaki finally spoke.

Eun Mi squint her eyes as she didn't like that answer, "What was that?"

"It's not over yet," Tsubaki looked up and stared straight at her eyes, "I can't just give it up plus I'm the one who made that bet…if I back down…I will never respect myself…so I'm gonna trust my cards! Draw!" He drew the top card. He then averted his eyes to the only card and smirked, "And it seemed my trust paid off! I play Graceful Charity! I draw three cards!" He drew three cards and his eyes widened in shock, _'This magic card…this is the golden opportunity!' _He grabbed the spell card and discarded the rest, "I discarded Sapphire Gem Dragon [**M17 (4/1700/1400)**] and Amber Gem Dragon! [**M18 (4/1400/1700)**] Since both of them were sent to the Graveyard, I can special summon their Gem Pup tokens!" For a split second, a blue-skinned lizard and orange-skinned lizard appeared. The blue wingless dragon had a long row of sapphire spikes on its spine and all the way to the tip of the tail. The orange dragon had a large round orange crystal on the top of its body with hook-like orange crystals at the tip of its tail. Both of them disappeared and left behind their crystals remains. The crystals then hatched into two small dragons with their respective color crystals, "Then I play this magic card, Gem Flood!" [**S6] **His magic card immediately showed up with picture of seven colored crystals gathering toward a bright light in the center, "By sending four Gem Pups tokens to the Graveyard…" His four baby dragons stood on their hind legs as their crystals started to shine brightly.

Eun Mi narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "By sending those tokens to the Graveyard?"

Tsubaki shouted, "All cards on the Field will be destroyed!"

Eun Mi's eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets as she stammered, "W-w-w-w-w-what?"

The four little dragons screeched loudly as their bodies glowed of the colors of their crystals. Then in that moment, there were four powerful colored shockwaves that oblierated everything on the Field including the giant tree. The shockwaves were so powerful that their audiences were nearly blown away and almost had seizures due to the array of different colored flashes. In a split second, the Field was completely empty. The audience just gasped in awe as they couldn't believe that an Osiris duelist just wiped out an Obelisk Blue's field.

Jim exclaimed, "Incredible! That was wonderful!"

Shizuka smiled in agreement, "This way, he might have a chance to beat her."

Rad yelled, "Keep it up, Tsubaki! You can do it!"

Eun Mi couldn't believe her eyes. Her entire Field was completely wiped out along with her precious combos and her favorite spell card. She gritted her teeth as she still struggled to believe it. She then pointed to Tsubaki, "Good move but now what since your Field is empty too!"

Tsubaki accused, "What make you say my field is empty?"

"What?" Eun Mi couldn't believe the confidence sounded in her opponent's voice.

Tsubaki smirked, "For each card destroyed on your Field, I can special summon a Gem Dragon from my Graveyard."

Eun Mi shrilled, "What?"

"Six of your cards were destroyed," Tsubaki stated, "So I can summon up to five Gem Dragons…but oh wait…the maximum number was five like your Seed Cannon."

Eun Mi just frowned in response.

Tsubaki called, "Now, come out, guys! Ruby Gem Dragon!" A thick red crystal rose from the Field, "Amber Gem Dragon!" An orange crystal came out too, "Topaz Gem Dragon!" A yellow crystal was summoned, "Emerald Gem Dragon!" A green crystal was next, "Sapphire Gem Dragon!" Finally, a blue crystal arrived. All crystals cracked and shattered to reveal five grown dragons, all of them roaring in chorus, "All five of them are ready to attack you directly!"

Izumi gaped, "He's amazing…he's really going to win!"

Rad cheered, "Alright!"

Eun Mi chuckled and then snickered.

Tsubaki felt offended, "What?"

"You forgot that I previously have Dandylion on the Field." Eun Mi recalled.

Tsubaki knew and wondered, "Yeah, what about it?"

Eun Mi answered, "When Dandylion is sent to the Graveyard, I can special summon two Fluff tokens [**Fluff Token (1/0/0)**] in defense!" Two white cotton fluffs with eyes and mouth appeared as her shields, "These will protect me."

"So what?" Tsubaki objected, "Three other dragons can still attack you directly and that'll still be more than enough to attack you directly!"

Eun Mi sighed in disappointment, "Oh Osiris guy, do you really think I didn't prepare for this situation?"

"Eh?" Tsubaki was surprised at her words.

Eun Mi explained, "I was honestly surprised when you used such a powerful card because you're just an Osiris Red but what strong opponent doesn't have a card that can overturn the tides or wipe out the Field?"

Tsubaki complained, "Are you insulting me or something?"

Eun Mi chose not to answer as she went on, "Remember I mentioned that I discarded cards that would be nice in the future with Graceful Charity?"

"Um yeah…" Tsubaki didn't like where this was going.

Eun Mi smirked, "The cards I discarded were two Revival Roses. [**M19 (4/1300/1300)**] When a Lv. 5 or higher Plant-type monster is destroyed, I can special summon those roses from the Graveyard." Her smirk became wider, "Remember how many Lv.5 and higher Plant-type monsters I have?" She held four fingers.

Tsubaki realized, "That means…"

Eun Mi shouted, "Rise from the soil, Revival Roses!" Two plants quickly grew from the Field and accompanied the Fluff tokens. It was three roses clustered together with each of them having an eye in the center. She smiled politely, "Now you only have one direct attack. Better use it while you can."

"Oh no…" Izumi's happiness for her friend was dampened, "Just when Tsubaki was so close…"

Jim gulped, "No wonder she's the number one Obelisk Blue of her gender and year. Even when the Field is destroyed, she had a backup plan. That is a good quality of an Obelisk Blue."

Shizuka looked at Izumi, "Don't worry, Izumi-chan, I'm sure Tsubaki-san still has a chance."

Izumi looked back at Shizuka and nodded weakly, "Yeah…you're right…" She still felt unsure.

Tsubaki gritted his teeth, _'This girl…she is seriously prepared for anything…' _He felt cold sweat dripping down his body, _'She's really good…this is the strength of an Obelisk Blue…' _He ordered, "Ruby Gem Dragon will attack directly! I'll attack all of your shields with the rest of my Gem Dragons! Now go!" All five dragons roared in union as they ran across the Field, "Amber Gem Dragon! Amber Dive!" The orange dragon leapt high into the air and dived on the Fluff token, crushing it, "Topaz Gem Dragon! Topaz Slam!" The brown dragon marched on and slammed the fragile cotton with its heavy spiked shell, "Sapphire Gem Dragon! Sapphire Wheel!" The blue dragon jumped and crouched into a circular position. With spikes on its spine, the dragon rolled through the rose and sliced it up, "Emerald Gem Dragon! Emerald Shower!" The green dragon flapped its wings and shot green crystal needles that pierced through the second rose, "Ruby Gem Dragon! Ruby Claw!" The red dragon pounced at Eun Mi and slashed her down, causing her to scream.

**Tsubaki: 3400. Eun Mi: 5000 – 1900 = 3100.**

"Now I have higher Life Points than you!" Tsubaki felt proud.

"That won't last long. Draw!" Eun Mi drew her card, "I'll need to recharge my Hand and look like you need one too. So be grateful for this gift! I play Spellbook Inside the Pot!" [**S7**] Her new magic card showed three spellbooks coming from the greedy green pot, "Both of us can draw three cards."

"Tch…thanks…" Tsubaki drew his three cards as Eun Mi drew her.

Eun Mi smiled as she just drew good cards, "And it doesn't last long indeed. I'll tell you this, Osiris Guy. If I can't beat you this turn, the next turn I will! I play a spell card, Haru No Kusa!" [**S8**] It was a new magic card with a picture of flowers sprouts soaked with fresh rain drops, "By removing a Plant-Type monster from the Graveyard, I can turn all my opponent's monsters into Plant-type!" Strangely, plants grew out of the gem dragon's body and rooted around the crystals, "Then I play Miracle Fertilizer." [**S9] **Her next magic contained a picture of a spray can with Nettles all over the meadow, "You can call this a Plant-type version of Call of the Haunted."

Tsubaki narrowed his eyes as he asked, "What plant-type are you summoning this time?...Wait…" His eyes widened in realization, "Not again!"

"That's right!" Eun Mi shouted, "I revive Lonefire Blossom!" A familiar bulb grew on the Field, "And I use its effect one last time! I sacrifice itself to special summon," The bulb fired its last firework and set itself on fire, burning itself into ashes. At the same time, the Miracle Fertilizer shattered, "Hallowed General of the Heart Star!" [**M20 (7/2600/2500)**]" A tall handsome general rose from the ashes of the bulb. He wore a full set of aqua-colored armor that resembled dragon scales along with lake blue loincloth that contained a picture of lotus flower. He had long shining blonde hair with a helmet shaped like a dragon's face, "The last Star has finally arrived! At the start of the battle phase, the General gets additional attack for each Plant-type monster you control!"

"But I don't own any Plant-Type monsters…" Tsubaki realized, "That magic card! You turned my dragons into Plant-Type!"

Eun Mi smiled, "That's right! There are five dragons that are now Plant-Types, so that means I can attack six times! Since all your dragons are in attack positions, I can take out your remaining Life Points with battle damage!" She yelled, "Hallowed General! Attack the weakest one with Sacred Lotus Strike!" The general levitated himself with aura and then soared toward the Amber Gem Dragon. Pink energy gathered into his fist as he held his right arm back. He was about to punch the dragon but…

Tsubaki immediately countered, "Not yet! I activate my trap card, Last Resort!" One of his face down cards flipped up with a picture of a lone beach chair on the moon while Earth was above, "When my opponent attacks, I can activate Ancient City – Rainbow Ruins [**S10**] from my deck!" The field was suddenly replaced by a circular stone auditorium stage surrounded by audience seats. Nearby the auditorium were stone Rome pillars with a rainbow over it.

Izumi looked around in awe, "It's so pretty…" She chuckled nervously, "And it felt way less bloodthirsty than Yuki's Battle Coliseum."

Rad gasped in admiration, "I wonder what kind of effects this Field card has?"

Tsubaki continued, "When I have two Gem Dragons on the Field, I can reduce the battle damage to half once!"

"Big deal!" Eun Mi shouted as the General punched the Amber Gem Dragon. The dragon didn't even move from the punch as there was no impact. Its body then glowed pink and suddenly exploded into bits, "I can still cause plenty of Battle damage to wipe out your Life Points!"

**Tsubaki: 3400 – 600 = 2800. Eun Mi: 3100.**

After bracing the explosion, Tsubaki quickly pressed another button, "I activate my other trap card, Gem Pair!" [**T7**] His last face-down card had picture of a Topaz Gem Dragon who was crouching with his crystal shell glowing and setting up a colorful barrier, "When my Gem Dragon was destroyed by battle, I can send one Gem Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard and reduce all battle damage to zero this turn." He quickly grabbed one card from his deck and sent Amethyst Gem Dragon [**M21 (4/1100/2000)**] to the Graveyard.

"Nice move," Eun Mi praised, "But your dragons can still be destroyed! Hallowed General, attack them all!" The general held his right arm back as his fist gathered pink energy again. He then punched forward and sent a pink shockwave that destroyed all four Dragons.

Tsubaki yelled, "Since you destroyed my Gem Dragons, I can special summon Gem Pup Tokens!" Five small dragons were summoned to the Field once again.

Eun Mi went on, "Don't forget that my General still has one more attack!" The general punched the baby orange dragon and exploded it too, "And now his other effect activates!"

"What?" Tsubaki was surprised.

Eun Mi explained, "For each Plant-type monster my General destroyed, you get 400 damage!"

Tsubaki's eyes widened, "That means…"

Eun Mi chuckled, "My General destroyed six Plant-type monsters…so you get 2400 damage. You're lucky that my favorite magic card was destroyed or you would have receive 4800 damage but that's okay…it's still high enough! General! Attack him!" The general suddenly disappeared and then reappeared in front of Tsubaki, surprising him. The warrior then punched him in the cheek, forcing the Osiris duelist to stumble back.

Izumi cried, "Tsubaki!"

Rad yelled, "Hang in there!"

**Tsubaki: 2800 – 2400 = 400. Eun Mi: 3100.**

Eun Mi whispered, "The next turn…you'll lose." She crossed her arms, "But you know, you did really well to come this far because many of my opponents never get a chance to face my Hallowed General. So don't be mad if you lost because you're not weak. I'm just too strong for you." She laughed proudly as the General walked back to her field.

Tsubaki stayed rooted to the spot after being punched. He didn't even bother walking back to his starting position. He gritted his teeth as he felt so frustrated with himself, _'Damnit…damnit…why can't I do anything? Why can't I win? Why can't I be strong like Yuki? I…believe in the cards…I believe in it so much…so why does she kept coming back with new move stronger than before every time?...No…' _He slowly walked back to his dueling spot, _'I can't think like that…I can't be scared…I believe in them…I do believe in the deck!' _He raised his right arm as he was about to draw but it was shaking so much that he couldn't even touch his deck, _'…Nrgh…I do believe it!' _He drew the card.

The audience just watched with anticipation. All of them were expecting Eun Mi to deliver the final blow soon but…they were all slightly curious…to see what move would an Osiris Red will play because so far…they had all seen that he was not a bad duelist considering the duel between him and Eun Mi lasted this long.

Tsubaki dropped on his knees.

The audiences were surprised and they started gossiping with each other, wondering why the Osiris duelist does that.

"Tsubaki…?" Izumi murmured as she was confused too.

"Hey, man," Rad protested, "You're not giving up, are you?"

Tsubaki then dropped further on his arms.

Jim tilted his hat down as he closed his eye, "I guess this is the best he can do."

"No!" Izumi stood up and yelled, "Tsubaki!" She yelled louder, "Tsubaki!"

Eun Mi narrowed her eyes as she pondered Tsubaki's actions, "Are you giving up?"

Tsubaki clenched his fists tightly; the cards in his Hand were already on the ground. They were all various spells and traps but no monsters. The only monsters he had on the Field were his baby dragons that were soon to be plants once Eun Mi used her magic card's effect. And when the General destroy one of his dragons even in defense, his Life Points will still be wiped out. He now had two choices. He could lose with dignity but he'll be kicked off the Academy or he could surrender now and be spared from punishment but he could he live with that?

A single teardrop fell on the fallen card. Soon, more teardrops fell on the ground below the Osiris Red. Tsubaki yelled as he banged the fist on the ground.

Eun Mi chided, "There's nothing wrong with losing…especially to a strong opponent like me."

Tsubaki shook slightly, _'I trust the cards…and nothing still happened…I thought it worked before against Yumi…but that was just pure luck…I wanted….I wanted to trust the cards so badly…but…'_ His clenched fists shook in frustration as he was upset at himself, '_Even if I do trust the cards, why would they trust me?'_ Tears were dripping down from his closed eyes, _'Why would they trust a guy who completely destroyed bonds?'_

* * *

A man was suddenly sent flying as he received a powerful attack. As soon as he touched the ground, his body was sent tumbling across the rough floor. The man groaned as his body ached, "I-i-impossible…how can a mere child win against me? And those cards…I never saw those cards before!"

A red haired boy smirked, "That's because I stole it from some artist who worked at Industrial Illusions. Your name is Giese, right? Heh, what a stupid name." He suddenly held a card, "This is your precious friend, right?"

Giese's eyes widened, "My card? When did you take it?"

The boy snickered, "Right after the duel, stupid old man….not only you were weak but you were an easy steal too…" He held the card with his two hands, "And you also said stupid crap, saying that this piece of paper is your friend."

Giese begged, "Let him go! I'll get you whatever you want! I can get you any rare card!"

The boy grinned evilly, "Heh…" He suddenly tore the card in half.

Giese gasped. His eyes widened in horror as he just watched his best friend died.

* * *

Tsubaki looked down in shame, _'I was a delinquent…every time I won against someone…I destroyed their deck…I ripped cards…I burned them too….I was so mad at the world that I didn't think it was wrong…So of course, the cards wouldn't trust me…not after what I did….'_

"What the hell are you crying for, you stupid idiot?" A familiar cold voice grabbed Tsubaki's attention.

"Eh?" Tsubaki stood back up on his knees and looked toward the direction of the voice. His eyes widened in recognition, "Yuki?"

Kurai was standing nearby the stage with his arms crossed. Alexander was also there behind Kurai with a smile and a happy wave, saying "Yahoo, we're here too."

Izumi gaped, "Yuki? Alex?"

Rad blinked, "Oh, there they are."

"You!" Eun Mi pointed to Kurai accursedly, "So you finally decide to show up, you pervert!"

"Shut up, witch." Kurai replied bluntly, "I'm not talking to you."

"W-w-what?" Eun Mi was flabbergasted.

Kurai looked back at Tsubaki and narrowed his eyes, "What the hell are you doing? Hurry up and duel."

Tsubaki frowned, "Don't order me around, cold hearted stiff bastard! You're not the boss of me!"

Kurai hissed, "Then why the hell you made such a stupid bet, huh?"

Tsubaki glared, "Do you really think I made that bet for you? I did it to prove myself!"

Kurai scoffed, "You only prove that you're bigger idiot."

Tsubaki snapped, "What was that?"

Kurai rolled his eyes, "What idiot would challenge an Obelisk Blue and make a bet that involved getting kicked out of the island?"

Tsubaki gritted his teeth and admitted, "Okay, fine! I admitted! What do you want me to do? I already drew and it wasn't a good card! I have nothing to help me! I'm gonna lose anyway and get kicked off this island!"

"Tch," Kurai glared back at Tsubaki, "Nobody asked you to take my damn place! You're not getting off the island! I am!"

Tsubaki frowned, "No way! I made the challenge! So I have to accept my loss as a duelist! So I'm getting off the island!"

Kurai twitched, "This is my problem! I'm getting off!"

Tsubaki retorted, "This is my duel! I'm getting off!"

Alexander smiled, "You guys fight like married couple, how adorable?"

Kurai and Tsubaki yelled at Alexander, "SHUT UP!"

The audience just watched their amusing banters back and forth with a sweat droplet as they were all wondering what happened to the duel now.

Izumi sighed annoyingly, "Boys…"

"Hey now," Jim defended, "Not all boys are like that, Spring girl."

Rad blinked, "Aren't they just acting like friends?"

Izumi countered as she smacked his head with a backhand smack, "What kinda friends would act like that?"

Shizuka chuckled nervously with a sweat droplet dripping down the side of her head, "At least, they seemed to be getting along…in some way…"

Eun Mi just stood there as she was still flabbergasted. She then clenched her fist and shook her arm as angry aura was flowing through her body. She snapped, "How dare you ignore me just like that? How about you both get off the island when I win!"

"Huh?" Tsubaki was staring at Eun Mi in surprise.

Kurai crossed his arms as he spoke sarcastically, "Great, she doubled the stakes." He looked back at Tsubaki, "You better win or I'll kill you."

Tsubaki snarled back, "How the hell do you expect me to win?"

"Just trust your cards," Kurai answered bluntly, "If you can't get them to trust you back, make them."

Tsubaki's eyes widened, _'How…how does he know what I was thinking...huh?...Make them trust me…how? I did a lot of bad things in my past…but…..but…'_ He clenched his fists, _'Even so, I wanted to redeem myself…'_ He closed his eyes, _'I wanted a second chance to prove that I can change myself…I want to believe in this deck so much!'_

Then a bright warm glow caught his attention. Tsubaki was surprised to a bright glow and glanced at the source. He looked straight down at his duel disk and noticed the top card was glowing brightly, '…_are you giving me a second chance?' _He narrowed his eyes as he swiped the cards off the floor and stood up to face Eun Mi, "Let's do this."

Eun Mi noticed that there was no fear in his eyes now. She smirked, "Heh…what can you do now?"

"First of all," Tsubaki raised his hand and pointed to the sky, "I'll activate the Ancient City – Rainbow Ruins' effect. When I have four Gem monsters on the Field, I can draw another card." He raised his duel disk as the top card was still glowing, "Draw!" He drew his final hope and glanced at it, _'I never saw this card before…is this…my second chance?' _ He quickly averted his eyes back to the Field, "I sacrifice the Ruby Gem Pup Token!" The small red dragon roared as it changed back into a small ruby crystal, "To special summons Fire Ruby Gem Dragon!" [**M22 (5/1000/1000)**] A fire spark grew inside the small ruby until it became a blazing fire. The fire then expanded until the small ruby couldn't bear it and then exploded in a bright explosion. The others covered their eyes with their arms including both duelists.

Tsubaki slowly lowered his arms as he saw a shadow coming from the smoke. He stared in awe as he was expecting a powerful creature. But…sadly, that wasn't the case. His eyes became blank as he turned pale white. His eyes could only blink as he watched in absolute shock. The shadow was a small creature…in fact so small that it was smaller than the actual Ruby Gem Dragon. It was a small thin red-skinned dragon with little arms and legs. It even had tiny wings that could barely keep its body floating. What's special about this little guy was that it had a long thin tail with a huge ruby crystal shaped like flame at the tip.

Eun Mi was surprised to see a little creature. She blinked and pointed her finger to it, "What the hell is that?"

"Umm…" Tsubaki scratched his head, "Supposedly my answer to your General."

Eun Mi scoffed, "Heh…" Then she giggled, "Heh…Heh…" She laughed, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Do you really expect that tiny puff dragon to beat my General?" She laughed harder.

Kurai just groaned as he smacked his own head in disbelief. He glanced at Tsubaki, "Is this the best you can do?"

Tsubaki blushed out of embarrassment, "Shut up!"

"Kuri!" A devil-winged puff ball suddenly appeared near Kurai's face, nearly surprising him.

"What the?" Kurai glared intently at Yami Kuriboh, "What the hell do you want now?"

"Hmm?" Alexander smiled as he assumed that Kurai was glaring at him, "I haven't say anything."

Kurai realized what he said and looked away, not want to look like he's nuts, "Never mind." He then glanced at Yami Kuriboh, _'What the hell do you want?'_

"Kuri. Kuri!" Yami Kuriboh motioned his body toward Tsubaki's glowing card placed on the Duel Disk.

Kurai narrowed his eyes, _'A spirit?...A Ruby spirit?' _He realized what he was thinking, _'Wait, no…I can't see spirits! It's all hallucination! I'm not weird like him!'_

"Kuri…" Yami Kuriboh rolled his eyes at his master's denial.

Tsubaki looked at the tiny and then averted his eyes to the card on his Duel Disk, _'I never seen this card before…but…there gotta be a reason why it appeared now…it's like she said…high level monsters with low stats have powerful effects…but what?' _He took a closer look and noticed the card was entirely made of transparent ruby, _'Huh? Since when did the card was like this? How can I know its effect?'_ He suddenly winced as he received a vision in his head, _'What the?...For a moment there…why did I see some purple rabbit-like creature with a ruby tail?' _His eyes widened as he saw the card was no longer ruby and contained writings, "This is…" He narrowed his eyes as he now knew what to do, "I activate Fire Ruby Gem Dragon's effect! For each Gem Dragon in the Graveyard, I can special summon a Gem Pup token! There's only one space left, so I special summon Amber Gem Pup!" The tiny dragon screeched as it raised its tail high like a beacon light. The flame ruby glowed brightly as an amber crystal came to the Field and hatched into a cute baby orange dragon, "Next, my Fire Ruby Gem Dragon gets 700 ATK boost for each Gem Pup on the Field!" He held four fingers, "There's four, so my Fire Ruby Dragon gets 2800 ATK boost!" The four baby dragons started glowing in their respective colors and then sent a beam of light toward the red dragon's ruby, causing it to glow brighter.[**Fire Ruby Gem Dragon: 1000 + 2800 = 3800.**]

Izumi gasped, "A monster with nearly 4000 ATK…"

Rad cheered, "That's cool, Tsubaki!"

Tsubaki ordered, "Fire Ruby Gem Dragon! Attack the General with Ruby Flame Cannon!" The tiny dragon aimed its tail toward the General like a cannon. It then gathered red light into the ruby and fired a red concentrated laser that damaged the Field as it traveled toward the General. When the attack finally reached him, it completely obliterated him, not even a speck of ash was left behind.

**Tsubaki: 400. Eun Mi: 3100 – 1200 = 1900.**

"I place one card face down." Tsubaki finished as a face-down card appeared, "And Fire Ruby Gem Dragon's ATK returns to normal at the end of my turn." The small dragon lowered its tail as it wanted to rest. [**Fire Ruby Gem Dragon: 3800 – 2800 = 1000.**]

Eun Mi just stared at Tsubaki, _'Just a moment ago, he looked like he was ready to give up…but with few words exchanged with Kurai, he was ready to fight again…not only that, he get to drew a good monster card and managed to destroyed my last Star monster….' _She narrowed her eyes, _'No one has ever destroyed my last Star monster…not in a long while…Osiris Red Guy…no, Tsubaki, you really are a strong opponent…but…I won't lose…not with this card and my reputation at stake.' _Her eyes became determined, "Draw!" She drew the card but she didn't need it. She only needed one card and it was right here in her Hand, "Tsubaki!"

Tsubaki was surprised to hear his name coming out of her mouth.

Eun Mi praised, "You're a really strong guy. So I want to give you all my respect…and what better to show it than using all your strength…" She held the card in her hand, "Remember I said there's a secret if you defeat all my Star monsters?"

Tsubaki didn't answer for few seconds as he silently nodded.

Eun Mi continued, "This secret can only be special summoned when seven Stars are in the Graveyard, the Horn, the Neck, the Root, the Tail, the Winnowing Basket, the Chamber, and finally the Heart. These are the seven stars that formed a legendary constellation."

"A constellation?" Tsubaki asked.

Kurai narrowed his eyes as he suspected something powerful…something godly was coming.

Jim repeated the seven stars and then remembered something, "Wait…that constellation…the secret…"

Alexander narrowed his eyes too, "It's quite obvious…Plant-types…Spring…the Seven Stars…her status as the Blue Empress…that secret can only be…"

"Look, everyone! Feast your eyes on my strongest monster in my deck!" Eun Mi held the card high with pride. Mysteriously, storm clouds were gathering at the top of the stage, causing everyone to look up, "I special summon Seiryuu – Azure Dragon of the East!" [**M23 (10/4000/3500)**] A huge blue lightning bolt struck the Field and nearly blinded everyone with the brightest flash. Soon, their visions were slowly restored and everyone's eyes all widened in tremendous shock. Right before their eyes was a huge long serpentine dragon that can struck fear into the Heavens. Its body was so long that the audience could not even see the end. Its scales were blue as the darkest night and the spines were golden as the brightest sun. Its mane was white as Heaven's cloud and its sculpted horns were made of the oldest tree. Its tiny arms were adorned with golden sharp claws that could pierce through the Earth like better. Its eyes expressed fierce strength that nearly rivaled the Egyptian Gods. It opened its mouth with smoke coming within its fangs and gave a loud Heaven-shaking roar that made the entire audiences jumped out of their seats.

Tsubaki gaped in shock combined with amazement as his eyes wide as dinner plates at the sight of the godly dragon.

Kurai just stared in awe as he couldn't believe what he saw. He dueled against Cyber End Dragon and Cyber Cerberus but their presences paled compared to this creature he was seeing.

Yami Kuriboh held on to Kurai's shoulder as he was nearly blown away just be the sheer power of the dragon's spiritual aura.

Alexander looked up toward the dragon; his smile disappeared, "So this is secret ace card of the Blue Empress…"

Jim whispered as his body was shaking with excitement, "Incredible…"

Izumi glanced at Jim, "Incredible? How is Tsubaki gonna defeat that?"

Rad gulped, "With the same luck of the devil like Yuki?"

Shizuka clasped her hands in prayer for hope.

Sung Min stood on the outer layer of the audience seats while perfectly composed. He stared at the dragon with reminiscent look, "It's been awhile since we seen it in a duel…" He then felt something, "Hmm?" He looked to his side and saw a black glow emanating from his deck case, "You want to come out too, eh, Genbu?"

* * *

Elsewhere, a lone man was standing on the edge of the cliff with a waterfall nearby the South Duel Academy center. He took out his deck case and noticed a white glow, "Someone just summoned one of the Four Guardians?"

* * *

Inside a dark Obelisk Blue bedroom, Kwang was staring at his deck case that was giving off a red glow. He averted his eyes from his deck toward Hyun-Ki, who was sitting up on his bed, "Master Hyun-Ki…"

"I know…" Hyun-Ki reaffirmed, "Someone used one of the Four Guardians…I bet it's her…"

Kwang narrowed his eyes, "Is she facing Kurai?"

Hyun-Ki shrugged, "Who knows? We'll have to wait till Sung Min comes back with her. Heh…" He clasped his hands together in excitement, "This is gonna be an exciting semester."

* * *

Eun Mi explained her dragon's power, "Seiryuu has the power to attack all of your monsters. It also has the ability to pierce through your monsters' defenses and still cause damages. Not only that…I can remove one of the seven Star monsters in my Graveyard to prevent Seiryuu from being destroyed in battle." She slowly raised her arm toward Tsubaki and his small Ruby dragon, "Seiryuu…attack all of them with Dance of the Lightning God!" The guardian roared to the Heavens and suddenly, blue lightning bolts fell from the clouds and tried to shock their targets.

Tsubaki covered himself from the lightning bolts that nearly struck him and the monsters. One bolt struck so close that he swore that he felt sparks from it. He yelled, "Trap card activate! Gem Fortress!" [**T8**] He countered with a card that had picture of seven Gem Dragons together as they were united, "This card only works when I have a Gem Dragon on the Field. Each gem monster counts as 1000 ATK, so when they're totaled together, your monsters with less ATK can't battle this turn!" The ruby dragon shrilled as Tsubaki's trap card sent out a ruby, amber, topaz, emerald, and sapphire crystals. Each crystals shone brightly as they served as lightning rods and absorbed all the electric attacks from the dragon.

Eun Mi growled, "God, you really are a cat, aren't you? How many lives left before you're finally dead?"

"I don't know," Tsubaki admitted, "But I can't let this end because I don't wanna be kicked off the island! Draw!" He drew the card, "Now I activate Rainbow City's effect! Since I have four and more Gem monsters on the Field, I can draw another card!" He drew the second card, "Heh…I play Monster Reincarnation! I discard one card and take back a great friend of mine, Gratia Gem Dragon!" He discarded one card and immediately picked up his trump card from the Graveyard slot. He looked at Eun Mi, "Hey…remember that you were pissed off because Yuki wouldn't help that kid who was picked on by Ra bully?"

Eun Mi scoffed, "You mean the guy that Kurai refused to help? That just shows what kind of guy he is."

"You're wrong," Tsubaki countered, "Yuki does plan to help him from the start."

"What?" Eun Mi scorned with disbelief, "I don't believe you!"

Tsubaki retorted, "You don't have to believe me but I know Yuki well enough! The reason why Yuki didn't help out at first because he wanted that kid to learn how to stand up for himself. If he doesn't stand up, he will always be picked on and dependant on someone. Now, do you think that's gonna help that victim in the future? He was weaker than the bully, sure…but if he actually made an attempt to stand up to him…there's no doubt in my mind that Yuki would kick that bully's ass right there!"

Alexander chuckled and then laughed, "Well, well, Yuki, look like he completely read you there."

Kurai glared at Alexander and then looked away with his arms crossed, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Tsubaki declared, "I sacrifice Fire Ruby Gem Dragon and Amber Gem Pup!" Both small dragons disappeared from the Field, "To summon Gratia Gem Dragon!" A white lightning bolt hit the Field as the diamond dragon was summoned. It wasn't big or powerful as its opponent but it can still hold its ground, "This card is for Yuki! I play Polymerization!"

Izumi was surprised, "Fusion?"

Rad was surprised too, "Tsubaki has a fusion monster?"

Jim looked closer with excitement, "What's gonna it be!"

Kurai was actually surprised too but he refused to show it on his face.

Alexander smiled as he knew what Kurai was feeling, "A card for your sake? How admirable and it's so perfect for you too, considering your deck relied on fusions."

Kurai just growled, warning Alexander to shut up.

Tsubaki continued, "I use Polymerization to fuse Gratia Gem Dragon with," He showed the card high up in the air, "another Gratia Gem Dragon!"

Izumi gasped, "Tsubaki has two of them?"

Tsubaki shouted, "To fusion summon!" His card held in his fingers flashed as a transparent diamond dragon soared out of its guise. It quickly stopped ascending and instantly dived toward the other Gratia Gem Dragon on the Field. Both diamond dragons exchanged contact with their eyes and their bodies instantly collided with a huge colorful explosion. Tsubaki called out, "Dual Gratia Gem Dragon!" [**M24 (9/3400/2500)**] A huge pair of muscular silver dragon wings with shining golden inner skin flapped open out of the explosion. The wings were extended so wide that it went beyond the circumference of the dueling stage. The light from the explosion vanished to reveal a tall dragon standing on its hind legs with muscular body. The new dragon was nearly high as the Ancient Gear Golem. It had silver scales that glistened and a golden chest that shone luster. It had thick bulky arms that were so long that it nearly reached the ground and thick prism diamonds sticking out of their elbows. There were also prism diamonds sticking out at the tips of its wide wings and at the center of its chest. Finally, the dragon had four long white diamond horns, two of them below its eyes and the other two above the eyes.

"Pretty impressive," Eun Mi praised and then pointed out, "But your trump dragon is not strong as my trump dragon!"

"No, it's not," Tsubaki agreed but smirked, "But don't you remember Gratia Gem Dragon's effect?"

"Gratia Gem Dragon's effect?" Eun Mi's eyes widened, "300 ATK boost for each Rock-type monster? Hmph, there's only four rock type monsters, so that's only 1200 ATK boost. Sure, it'll make your dragon stronger but my dragon cannot be destroyed in battle! The next turn, my dragon will destroy your trump dragon."

"It's not 1200 ATK." Tsubaki corrected.

"What?" Eun Mi asked.

Tsubaki pointed out, "And you got the effect half right. It's true that Dual Gratia Gem Dragon gets 300 ATK for each Rock type...but not on the Field…but in the Graveyard!"

Eun Mi became shocked, "What!"

Tsubaki announced, "There's ten Gem Dragons in my Graveyard! So my Dual Gratia Gem Dragon gets 3000 ATK boost! Dual Gratia Gem Dragon! Gather Crystal Energy!" The muscular dragon roared as rays of rainbow were gathering into its chest crystal, making it gleam brighter with vibrant colors. [**Dual Gratia Gem Dragon: 3400 + 3000 = 6400.**]

Eun Mi's eyes quavered as she just realized that the end was coming but not for him but for her.

Tsubaki ordered, "Dual Gratia Gem Dragon! Show Seiryuu whose the better dragon!" The dragon clenched its claws and punched the ground hard, rooting his claws into it. His long thick arms served as pillars because rainbow energies were gathering into the giant crystals sticking out its elbows. As the elbow crystals gathered enough power, it stretched out its wings entirely to lessen the impact of the shot. It then opened its mouth to show a rainbow lightning sphere inside that kept growing and growing as its chest crystal shone brighter and brighter. When the crystal reached its peak of luminosity, the lightning sphere stopped growing as it was ready to fire. Tsubaki yelled the dragon's attack name, "Prism Lightning Flare!" The dragon fired the sphere like a huge cannon. The force of the shot nearly made the dragon skidded backward and it would fall off the stage if it didn't root its claws to the ground and opened its wings. The sphere flew at amazing speed toward the blue dragon guardian.

Eun Mi stammered, "Seiryuu! Counterattack with Blue Lightning!" The godly dragon opened its large mouth and fired a breath of blue lightning at the rainbow sphere. But the gem dragon's attack was so powerful that it just soared through the lightning breath. It immediately collided with the dragon's face and pushed the enemy dragon all the way above the storm clouds, creating a hole through it and letting the sunlight through it. Less than a second later, there was a huge prism explosion that wiped out the storm clouds and nearly blew the audiences. The shockwave eventually receded and the audience pondered what happened to Seiryuu. They quickly got their answer as Seiryuu's body fell on the ground so roughly that it forced Eun Mi to jump and fell on her butt.

**Tsubaki: 400. Eun Mi: 1900 – 2400 = 0.**

The audiences were quiet. They just couldn't believe what they saw. An Osiris Red just defeated one of the strongest Obelisk Blues. They all thought Kurai Yuki was the only threat but no…not anymore…there were another threat…a duelist who sought to catch up to Kurai's strength. It wasn't the results the audience expected but…a lone audience member stood up and clapped his hands. The duel was so exciting that the results didn't matter at the end. Soon after, more students stood up and clapped their hands. Eventually, the entire audiences were cheering for both duelists for such an impressive duel and an epic battle of dragons.

"Tsubaki!" Izumi called out happily as she ran off from her seat. Rad quickly followed after.

"Hmm.." Jim smiled as he tipped his hat downward in content with the match, "Flower Boy is really wonderful…Oh?" He glanced at Shizuka, "...Maybe I should call him Dragon Boy?"

Shizuka blinked as she didn't expect a new nickname. She then giggled, "Nah, you should keep Flower Boy…" She smiled with her eyes closed, "It's more fun that way, you know?"

"Oh ho?" Jim smirked, "I didn't think Serene Girl had a mischievous side."

Shizuka smiled back, "I blame Onii-san's influence."

Eun Mi moved her legs as she was now sitting with her knees sticking out, "How…can I lose? I had absolute control…I was so close to winning…"

"That's because you were too arrogant, Miss Eun Mi," Sung Min walked up behind her, "You were so obsessed with justice that you failed to realize something more important."

Eun Mi glanced back at Sung Min, "Something more important?"

Sung Min closed his eyes, "That Mr. Tsubaki was dueling for the sake of someone else while you were dueling for the sake of yourself."

Eun Mi's eyes widened as she didn't expect to hear that. She then looked down in shame, "You're right…I was so obsessed with myself…that I completely forgot my original goal…to be a heroine for Master Hyun-Ki's sake…"

Sung Min smiled softly, "As long as you remember that, I'm sure you won't lose again…unless you duel against us."

Eun Mi pouted, "Sung Min! Are you implying that I'm the weakest?"

"Er…" Sung Min quickly waved his hands to calm her down, "I said nothing of the sort…I just meant that you wouldn't win against us because you're the youngest…oh…that doesn't sound right."

Eun Mi frowned, "Sung…MIN!"

Kurai just stared at Tsubaki who collapsed on his knees out of exhaustion.

Alexander was also staring at Tsubaki, "It's amazing how he grew so fast like that…" He chuckled as he watched Izumi suddenly glomped Tsubaki. He shouted out of pain and then complained that she was too heavy, causing Izumi to gasp and smack him with a harisen, "With his growth rate, it wouldn't take long for him to catch up to you…or possibly…beat you."

Kurai scoffed as he looked at Alexander, "You're kidding me?" He ignored Rad suddenly kicked Tsubaki from behind as his happy greeting, "Do you think he's capable of beating me?" Poor Tsubaki was lying on the stage with pain all over his body.

Alexander smirked, "I think so." Tsubaki immediately stood up and yelled at his friends.

Kurai glared as he didn't like Alexander's smirk.

"Hey!" Tsubaki jumped down from the stage to face Kurai. He smirked, "What do you think of my dueling now? Huh? Huh?" He felt proud.

Kurai didn't answer. He smirked slightly and looked away, "I guess you're not too bad…"

Tsubaki's eyes widened in surprise as he couldn't believe his ears, "Eh?"

Izumi gasped, "Did Yuki just praise Tsubaki?"

Kurai continued, "But I could have done much better." That caused Tsubaki's forehead vein twitched, "I would have done it faster too instead of taking eight turns." More of Tsubaki's blood veins were twitching.

Tsubaki yelled, "Yuki!" He then stopped being angry and scoffed. He laughed.

"Heh." Kurai smirked slightly. Both Osiris Red duelists stared at each other directly in the eyes and then smacked each other's hands at the same time as a sign of their unofficial friendship and rivalry.

Izumi just watched them from behind. From afar, she could see that her friends were getting stronger and stronger. It wouldn't be long before they duel strong opponents all over the world. She glanced at them, _'…I never notice it…how broad their shoulders were…' _

**TBC**

**

* * *

Next Episode Preview!**

**Rad: **Wow! That was a really long duel! Possibly the longest duel ever released!

**Shizuka: **It was so amazing how each of them goes back and forth, trying so hard to win.

**Rad: **Yeah but that's not important!

**Shizuka blinked: **It's not important?

**Rad nodded: **Yeah! That duel was finished! We gotta start another duel!"

**Shizuka blinked: **Already? But didn't we just finish one?

**Rad: **Yeah but this time someone challenged us directly!

**Next Episode – Episode 21 – The Scholar of the North!**

**Shizuka sweat drop: **Somehow I felt like our previews are getting lazier.

**Rad: **Well, what do you expect? The narrator is exhausted after writing all that mumbo jumbo.

**Narrator: **Yeah! I'm tired! Give me a break!

**Shizuka sweatdrop: **Gomen! I didn't mean to make anyone angry! Gomen!

**

* * *

Card of the Day – Dual Gratia Gem Dragon**

**Alexander smiled: **Oh? This time is Tsubaki's fusion monster card. This is a nice different pace for Yuki's fusion monsters.

**Tsubaki groaned: **Can we keep this short?

**Alexander: **Oh mine, you seemed awfully tired.

**Tsubaki: **Of course, I'm tried! I just had a long duel with that crazy psycho and now I wanted rest!

**Alexander: **Aww…and we were going to celebrate it too…

**Tsubaki blinked: **We were gonna celebrate?

**Alexander looked down: **I even got a nice present for you since you like treasure so much.

**Tsubaki gulped: **What kinda present?

**Alexander looked away:: **I'm not gonna tell you since you declined.

**Tsubaki groaned: **Alright, I'll celebrate with you guys, so what is it?

**Alexander smiled: **It's just a nice box to hold your treasures.

**Tsubaki fell down roughly.**

**

* * *

Cards used in Duel**

**M1 – Cobalt Gem Dragon – Water/Rock/4/1200/1900: **Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon "Cobalt Gem Pup Token" (Water/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M2 – Lonefire Blossom – Fire/Plant/3/500/1400: **Effect: Once per turn, you can Tribute 1 face-up Plant-Type monster to Special Summon 1 Plant-Type monster from your Deck.

**M3 – Grim Wolf of the Tail Star – Earth/Beast/6/2200/1000: **Effect: This card is always treated as Plant-Type except in Graveyard. When this card destroys one of your opponent's monsters, Special Summon one "Wicked Plant Token" (Plant/Earth/1/800/800) to your side of the Field. If this face-up card would be destroyed, you can Tribute 1 Plant-type monster instead and gain 200 ATK.

**M4 – Emerald Gem Dragon – Wind/Rock/4/1800/1300: **Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Emerald Gem Pup Token] (Wind/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M5 – Lord Poison – Water/Plant/4/1500/1000: **Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon 1 Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard, except "Lord Poison".

**M6 – Gratia Gem Dragon – Light/Rock/7/2700/2200: **Effect: Increase this card's ATK by 300 for each Rock type Monster on all Fields. For each Monster that this card destroys and send it to the Graveyard as a result of Battle, do 300 points of damage to your opponent.

**M7 – Rose Fairy – Wind/Plant/3/600/1200: **Effect: If this card is added from your Deck to your hand by the effect of a Spell, Trap, or Monster Card, you can Special Summon this card.

**M8 – Vindictive Monk of the Winnowing Basket Star – Dark/Spellcaster/5/1000/1000: **Effect: This card is always treated as Plant-Type except in Graveyard. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, if you control this card on the field, you can equip it to one of your opponent's monsters as an Equip Card. Once per turn, you can have the equipped monster lose 500 ATK and special summon a "Flower Token" (Dark/Plant/1/0/0) to your opponent's side of the Field in Defense Position. Destroy the equipped monster if its ATK becomes 0, and summon this card back to the Field.

**M9 – Ruby Gem Dragon – Fire/Rock/4/1900/1200: **Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Ruby Gem Pup Token] (Fire/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M10 – Topaz Gem Dragon – Earth/Rock/4/1600/1500: **Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Topaz Gem Pup Token] (Earth/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M11 – Graceful Magician of the Root Star – Water/Spellcaster/6/500/2500: **Effect: This card is always treated as Plant-Type except in Graveyard. The controller of this card selects the targets of their opponent's attacks. Once per turn, you can destroy a Field or continuous Spell Card with "Garden", "Forest", or "Tree" in its name. If you do, gain 1500 Life Points, and you can add 1 Field or continuous Spell Card with "Garden", "Forest", or "Tree" in its name from your Deck to your hand.

**M12 – Horseytail – Wind/Plant/2/400/500: **Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon 1 "Horseytail Token" (Plant-Type/WIND/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) to your opponent's side of the field in Defense Position. When this Token is destroyed by battle with a Plant-Type monster, its controller sends 1 card from their hand to the Graveyard.

**M13 – Fair Assassin of the Chamber Star – Wind/Warrior/6/2300/1800: **Effect: This card is always treated as Plant-Type except in Graveyard. Once per turn, you can reduce one of your opponent's monster's ATK or DEF to 0 until the End Phase. Any battle damage involved with the selected monster is 0.

**M14 – Proud Fighter of the Horn Star – Fire/Warrior/5/2000/1800: **Effect: This card is always treated as Plant-Type except in Graveyard. If this card is special summoned, you can special summon "Tragic Flutist of the Neck Star" from your Hand, Deck, or Graveyard. You cannot normal summon that turn. When this card destroys a Plant-Type monster by battle, add Lv.3 or lower Plant-Type monster from your Deck to your Hand.

**M15 – Tragic Flutist of the Neck Star – Water/Warrior/5/1800/2000: **Effect: This card is always treated as Plant-Type except in Graveyard. If this card is special summoned, you can special summon "Tragic Flutist of the Neck Star" from your Hand, Deck, or Graveyard. You cannot normal summon that turn. During Battle Phase, you can special summon Lv.3 or lower Plant-Type monster from your Hand. By using this effect, you special summon Copy Token with same stats as the selected monster to your opponent's side of Field in defense. (The Copy Token does not have the same effects). By using these effects, this card cannot attack this turn.

**M16 – Dandylion – Earth/Plant/3/300/300: **Effect: When this card is sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon 2 "Fluff Tokens" (Plant-Type/WIND/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) in Defense Position. These Tokens cannot be Tributed for a Tribute Summon during the turn they are Special Summoned.

**M17 – Sapphire Gem Dragon – Water/Rock/4/1700/1400: **Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Sapphire Gem Pup Token] (Water/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M18 – Amber Gem Dragon – Light/Rock/4/1400/1700: **Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Amber Gem Pup Token] (Light/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M19 – Revival Rose – Dark/Plant/4/1300/1300: **Effect: If a Level 5 or higher Plant-type monster you control is destroyed, you can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard.

**M20 – Hallowed General of the Heart Star – Light/Warrior/7/2600/2500: **Effect: This card is always treated as Plant-Type except in Graveyard. At the beginning of your Battle Phase, this card gains 1 additional attack this turn for each face-up Plant-Type monster your opponent controls. Each time this card destroys a Plant-Type monster by battle, inflict 400 damage to your opponent.

**M21 – Amethyst Gem Dragon – Dark/Rock/4/1100/2000: **Effect: When this card goes to the Graveyard, you may special summon [Amethyst Gem Pup Token] (Dark/Rock/1/100/100) to the Field.

**M22 – Fire Ruby Gem Dragon – Fire/Rock/5/1000/1000: **Effect: This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card cannot be special summoned except by tributing 1 "Ruby Gem" monster on your side of the Field. Once per turn, you can special summon as many "Gem Pup" tokens as the "Gem Dragons" in the Graveyard. This card gains 700 ATK for each "Gem Pup" on your side of the Field until the end of this turn.

**M23 – Seiryuu – Azure Dragon of the East – Wind/Dragon/10/4000/3500: **Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned, except from your hand while you have 7 monsters, each with "Horn Star," "Neck Star," "Root Star," "Chamber Star," "Heart Star," "Tail Star," and "Winnowing Basket Star" in its name in your Graveyard. This card can attack all monsters your opponent controls once each. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent. You can remove one of the 7 monsters mentioned above from the Graveyard to prevent this monster from being destroyed by battle.

**M24 – Dual Gratia Gem Dragon – Light/Rock-Fusion/9/3400/2500: **Effect: Increase this card's ATK by 300 for each "Gem Dragon" Monster in your Graveyard. For each Monster that this card destroys and send it to the Graveyard as a result of Battle, do 400 points of damage to your opponent.

**S1 – Ancient Forest – Field Spell: **When you activate this card, change any Defense Position monster(s) to face-up Attack Position. Flip Effects are not activated at this time. If a monster attacks, destroy it at the end of that turn's Battle Phase.

**S2 – Rare Value – Normal Spell: **When there are 2 or more [Gem Pup tokens] in your Field, randomly select 1 and remove it from the Field and draw 2 cards from your Deck.

**S3 – The World Tree – Continuous Spell: **Each time a Plant-Type monster(s) on the field is destroyed, place 1 Flower Counter on this card. You can remove Flower Counters to activate this card's effects. ● Remove 1: Target face-up Plant-Type monster gains 400 ATK and DEF until the End Phase. ● Remove 2: Destroy 1 card on the field. ● Remove 3: Select 1 Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it.

**S4 – The Blessings of Risshun – Continuous Spell: **Once per turn, you can double the Battle damage or Effect damage caused by Plant-type monsters, spells, and traps. If you deal a direct attack to your opponent, destroy this card.

**S5 – Seed Cannon – Continuous Spell: **Each time a Plant-Type monster(s) is Summoned, place 1 Plant Counter on this card (max. 5). You can send this card to the Graveyard to inflict 500 damage to your opponent for each Plant Counter on it.

**S6 – Gem Flood – Normal Spell: **Send 4 "Gem Pup" Tokens from your Spell & Trap Card Zone to the Graveyard. Send all cards on the field to the Graveyard. Then, Special Summon as many Lv.4 "Gem Dragon" monsters as possible from your Graveyard, up to the number of your opponent's cards that were sent to the Graveyard by this card's effect.

**S7 – Spellbook Inside the Pot – Normal Spell: **Both players draw 3 cards.

**S8 – Haru No Kusa – Continuous Spell: **Remove a Plant-type monster from your Graveyard. Your opponent's monsters are now Plant-types until your End Phase.

**S9 – Miracle Fertilizer – Continuous Spell: **Once per turn, you can select 1 Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it. You cannot Normal Summon or Set the turn you Special Summon a monster with this effect. If a monster Special Summoned by this effect is removed from the field, destroy this card.

**S10 – Ancient City – Rainbow Ruins – Field Spell: **This card gets these effects, based on the number of "Gem" monsters cards in your Spell & Trap Card Zone. ● 1+: This card cannot be destroyed by a card effect. ● 2+: Once per turn, you can halve the Battle Damage you take. ● 3+: You can send 1 "Gem Dragon" monster you control to the Graveyard to negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card and destroy it. ● 4+: Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can draw 1 card. ● 5+: Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can remove "Gem Pup" token and Special Summon 1 Lv. 4 "Gem Dragon" card from your Graveyard.

**T1 – Triggered Summon – Normal Trap: **Activate only when a monster is Special Summoned to your opponent's side of the field. Each player can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster from their hand.

**T2 – Cut Jewel – Normal Trap: **Send 1 "Gem Dragon" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard. Select 1 of your opponent's monsters and halve its original ATK. If that monster is destroyed, its controller draws 1 card from his/her Deck during the End Phase of that turn.

**T3 – Plant Food Chain – Normal Trap: **Equip this card to a Plant-Type monster you control. It gains 500 ATK. If this card is destroyed by a card effect while equipped, you can Special Summon 1 Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard.

**T4 – Blossom Bombardment – Normal Trap: **Activate only when a Plant-Type monster you control destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard. Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the destroyed monster's original ATK.

**T5 – Rainbow Life – Normal Trap: **Discard 1 card. Until the end of this turn, whenever you would take damage you gain that amount of Life Points instead.

**T6 – Last Resort – Normal Trap: **Activate only when your opponent's monster declares an attack. You can select 1 "Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins" from your Deck and activate it. If your opponent had an active Field Spell Card when this card was activated, they can draw 1 card.

**T7 – Gem Pair – Normal Trap: **Activate only when a "Gem Dragon" monster you control is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard. Send 1 "Gem Dragon" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard. You cannot special summon a Gem Pup Token. You take no Battle Damage this turn.

**T8 – Gem Fortress – Normal Trap: **Activate only when you have a "Gem Dragon" on your side of the Field. All monsters your opponent controls, with an ATK equal to or less than 1000 x the number of "Gem" monsters you control, cannot declare an attack this turn.

**

* * *

Author's Note 2: **Um wow, lot of things happened in this chapter. The duel became insanely long because I want to introduce all these new monsters. At first, I wanted to make it two episodes but then it would ruin my timeline. So I kept moving on and struggled all the way to the end of this massive chapter. I hope you like the subtle connections to the Gem Beasts in GX. And I promise to make the next chapter much shorter! I need to learn how to restrain myself or my brain will burst and my body will collapse of tiredness.


	39. 21A: The Scholar of the North

**Author's note: **Wow, it has been more than a year and half since I last updated this fanfic. Why would I update all of the sudden after such a long break? All I could say is that I'm just rather capricious. My interest in Yugioh tends to go up and down over the years. One day, I lost interest and then years later, I became interested again. I wasn't sure if I should update considering I haven't update for so long. So I wanna see if there are people who are still interested in reading this story. If there are interested readers, then it would probably inspire me to update with the next chapter faster especially now that this is summer. I don't feel this chapter is my best one because I felt my writing had incredibly become rustic. I think my dialogue sucks too. So in advance, I apologize for any grammar mistakes.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yugioh GX! Credits goes to GX_ST for subs of GX Episode 21.

* * *

**Episode 21: The Scholar of the North**

**Part A**

Another day casually passed at the South Duel Academy. The students were attending their school and engaging in their duel classes just as normal. It has been days since the incredible duel between Eun Mi, the Blue Empress of the East, and a lowly Osiris Red duelist whose name is not worth even mentioning.

"HEY! What do you mean, it's not worth mentioning?" The aforementioned lowly Osiris Red Duelist yelled out, "Don't just kick me into the curb like a piece of trash! What the hell? I just had a probably the most epic important match of my life and I don't get any fame for my victory? Anything?"

An Osiris Red girl, Izumi, sighed as she patted her pitiful friend's shoulder, "What do you expect, Tsubaki? We're Osiris Red, remember? We're pieces of lint to the higher ranked duelists' eyes. Remember Yuki's match with Leroy? Yuki won too but his victory didn't get him the fame like you wanted."

Tsubaki blinked in confusion as he looked back toward Izumi, "Who's Leroy?"

Izumi laughed slightly as she initially thought Tsubaki was fooling around. Her forehead vein twitched slightly as she snapped, "What do you mean? Whose Leory? The former Pro League Duelist that you got on my case just because I didn't know about him at first?"

"Jeeze, chill, Izumi!" Tsubaki had a bead of sweat on the back of his head as he was afraid of his female friend's wrath, "I was kidding! Of course, I knew about Leroy. I mean it's been long time since we heard his name ever since he just disappeared." He sighed disappointedly, "But I guess you're right. Just because we're Osiris Red, people don't think we're big deal."

"Tsubaki!" A loud familar enthusiastic voice called his name.

Tsubaki sighed as he knew the voice too well, "And of course, my daily greeting." He immediately opened his backpack and rapidly took out his metallic clipboard. Just right on cue, a hyperactive Ra Yellow boy, Rad, came soaring in with a flying kick that was blocked by Tsubaki's make-shift shield.

Rad landed on his foot and gasped in surprise, "You blocked my greeting again! You got stronger, Tsubaki!" He winked as he gave Tsubaki a thumb's up.

Tsubaki's blood vein twitched as he felt irritated with Rad's usual excitement, "Of course, I got stronger! After being kicked by you so many times, don't you think I know your patterns by now?"

Rad blinked once. His eyes widened with understanding, "Ohhhhh…." He grinned, "Then I just need a new way of giving you my greetings!"

More blood veins twitched on Tsubaki's head as he retorted, "OR DON'T EVEN BOTHER GREETING ME ANYMORE!"

"Oh come now, Tsubaki." A handsome Obelisk Blue duelist, Alexander, showed up as he walked down the school hallway toward the trio, "Rad simply wanted to express his friendly affections for you. Is that so wrong?" He smiled.

Tsubaki's eye twitched in annoyance as he was suspicious of Alex, "I don't know. There's something about the way you say it that just make me distrust you."

"I'll even offer suggestions to what type of greetings you should give him, Rad." Alex offered with a sadistic smile.

Tsubaki countered demonically, "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"

"So what brings you here, Alex?" Izumi asked.

Alexander replied with a smile, "I'm just curious about what lovely activity do you guys have planned today." He then opened his knowing eyes, "But then I noticed that Yuki isn't with you today."

"Yeah, about that," Izumi explained, "Yuki said he has some personal business that he needed to attend to."

"Oh?" Alexander smiled with his eyes closed as he put his hand under his chin, "Personal business he said? Interesting." He chuckled.

Tsubaki sweat-dropped, "I never like that chuckle. It just makes me wonder what you're up to."

Izumi also sweat-dropped as she agreed, "Yeah, I know. I wonder what's his secret of knowing everything?"

"What's up with that?" Rad questioned, "Last week, Tsubaki was gone and now Yuki is gone?" He sighed with slight disappointment, "I wanna hang out with the whole gang again!"

Tsubaki frowned, "Why not go hang out with the crocodile guy? You love his "toy," remember?" He moved his fingers to signal quotation marks.

"Already tried it," Rad answered right away, "I went to visit him but he wasn't there. He didn't even bother to leave his toy behind for me to play with it."

Izumi had a huge drop of sweat, "How can you still think that living crocodile is a toy?" She complimented, "Your density is just amazing."

Tsubaki scoffed, "No, he's just psycho."

Rad laughed loudly, "Heh, thanks, Tsubaki!"

Tsubaki countered, "It wasn't a compliment!"

"Hmm," Alexander opened his eyes as he suspected something, "Yuki is currently out. And so is Jim Crocodile." He closed his eyes as he smiled, "I wonder if they're together?"

Izumi gasped as her cheeks turned bright red, "You don't mean….they could be…"

Tsubaki stared at Izumi with suspicion and annoyance, "What. Are. You. Thinking?"

Alexander smiled, "I merely suggest they might be doing something together. I have no idea what Izumi is thinking."

Tsubaki groaned as he shuddered, "Sadly, I knew what she's thinking. She's thinking of that yaoi stuff."

"Oh?" Alexander smirked, "For you to know what she's thinking, does that mean…?"

Tsubaki interrupted angrily, "I just knew it because I'm always the butt end of your gay jokes!"

* * *

Alexander was actually right. Jim Crocodile Cook is currently with Kurai Yuki but not in the sense of what Izumi is fantasizing about. They were not at the Duel Academy nor the dormitories or other common places that students would usually be at. Currently, Kurai was inside a familiar location, a place that he went to before and never wished to come back again. However, it was Jim's first time and his feelings were exact opposite of Kurai.

"Wow! This is really amazing!" Jim's eye wavered with complete awe as he looked around his surroundings. Both duelists were inside the abandoned ruins deep within the island. The very same ruins that Kurai dared entered for power after his loss to the Dynast, the strongest duelist of the South Duel Academy. It was also the same ruins that led Kurai into his unfortunate prediction of being the Head of the Disciplinary Committee.

Kurai was few yards away. He was feeling rather irritated because he rather be elsewhere than the ruins again ever since he was involved in a life-death situation. But…there was a reason why he was here again in this forsaken place. He glanced at Jim staring at random hieroglyphs. He narrowed his eyes coldly, "Well?"

Jim turned back, "Hold your horses, Dark Boy! Excavating takes time." He titled his hat as he smirked, "It just doesn't happen in flash. It might actually take years."

Kurai scoffed annoyingly, "Years I don't have. We only have couple of hours before the stupid professors find out we're missing."

"That just makes me wanna excavate the ruins even more." Jim grinned proudly, "Aren't you curious to know what hidden secrets could be beneath this ruins? Doesn't the unknown excite you?"

"Not really," Kurai replied coolly, "I just wanna know the answer to my question. That's the only reason why I even bother leading you here."

Jim shrugged, "Alright, alright." He decided not to purse the conversation. He then warned, "But I gotta warn you, Dark Boy. An excavation takes at least and I really mean At Least hours before I can find anything." He smiled, "So relax. Play with Karen!" He motioned toward his reptilian companion close by.

"Not in the mood." Kurai replied coldly as he crossed his arms, deciding that best course in the current situation is to wait.

Jim chuckled as he was amused by Kurai's reaction, "Heh, your loss then."

* * *

"I see little signs of improvement." Dr. Schmitt, the Headmaster of the Ra Yellow Boys' dorms and head doctor of the South Duel Academy, was currently checking a young male patient's eyes with a flashlight. He turned off his flashlight as he let go of the patient's face, "However that doesn't mean you can go outdoors just yet."

The patient, Hyun-Ki, moaned disappointedly as he picked up his sunglasses close by and wore it, "Seriously?" He wanted to clarify.

Dr. Schmitt replied firmly, "Seriously. Do not go out just yet or you'll run the risk of exposing your eyes to greater harm."

"I'll personally make sure that he doesn't leave the room, Dr. Schmitt." Kwang promised. He was there by Hyun-Ki's side as a personal bodyguard.

"That's reassuring." Dr. Schmitt felt relieved as he put away his equipment in his portable bag. He advised as he stood up, "Just make sure he doesn't overwork himself."

"Of course." Kwang affirmed, "Please." He escorted the doctor out of Hyun-Ki's room. Hyun-ki's condition was special and required personal weekly visits from the renowned doctor. It was one of the reasons why the heir of one of the largest corporations is attending the South Duel Academy. There was another renowned doctor located at the famous Duel Academia but one major corporation had already claimed that island by sending their youngest brother there.

Hyun-Ki grumbled as he fell back on his bed, "At this rate, I'm never gonna have fun."

Kwang closed the door after escorting the Ra Yellow Headmaster. He looked back, "You already established your reputation of being the strongest duelist last year. Even if you haven't duel for quite a while, everyone here still talks of your legendary battle with the Dynast."

Hyun-Ki countered with a slight smirk, "Except the first years."

Kwang closed his eyes as he disagreed, "Kurai Yuki seemed to know your strength. He was anxious to duel with you but I told him he's not even strong enough."

Hyun-Ki chuckled, "But he has potential. In fact, I think he could give me the duel I'm looking for."

Kwang opened his eyes when Hyun-Ki mentioned the duel. His eyes wavered slightly with concern for his master, "So you're saying for the sake of dueling with him, you'll give everything you got including your sight?"

Hyun-Ki didn't answer. There was a rather long silence and the dark atmosphere of his bedroom just made it eerie. Kwang frowned as he felt uncomfortable with the quietness, "Well…?"

"Where's Eun Mi?" Hyun-Ki interrupted with light-hearted tone, "You think that she would be bothering me with her lovey dovey attention right now with her attention now that she's here." He chuckled casually.

Kwang sighed disappointedly when Hyun-Ki obviously changed the subject. He then answered, "Ever since she lost to that Osiris Red duelist, her status as the Blue Empress of the East was hurt. So she's training constantly everyday non-stop to redeem her lost pride."

"Non-stop, huh?" Hyun-Ki frowned slightly, "I didn't think she would take this loss so seriously."

Kwang crossed his arms, "She has to. She's one of the Four Emperors. Our victories are your victories. If we dare lose, it will ruin your family name."

Hyun-Ki waved him off as he didn't want to hear it anymore, "Yeah, yeah, I know what you're saying. I don't need to hear it again. I already heard it from my old man everyday." He put his hand under his chin, "But I didn't expect that Osiris Red duelist would be quite powerful to defeat Eun Mi."

Kwang scoffed as he looked away, "That was just pure luck. To survive against Eun Mi's relentless attacks, he has the luck of a devil."

Hyun-Ki countered, "Hey, now, luck is part of a skill. After all, you can't deny his godly luck when he defeated the Blue Dragon card." He smirked interestedly, "Heh, he's like a diamond in the rough." He then laughed out loud.

Kwang just gave a blank stare.

"Don't you get it?" Hyun-Ki explained, "Diamond in the rough. He used a Gem deck. You know? Diamond? Like a Gem? Get the connection?"

Kwang continued his blank unamused stare.

A bead of sweat appeared on Hyun-Ki's head as he felt uncomfortable with his bodyguard's stare. He grumbled, "Never mind…moving aside. Where's Jae-Sun?" He asked for the White Emperor of the West.

Kwang answered promptly, "Training as usual."

Hyun-Ki groaned, "That guy is never around. I think I'm forgetting what he looks like!"

"He's trying to perfect his one turn kill move." Kwang explained.

"What about Sung Min?" Hyun-Ki asked about the last Emperor, the Black Emperor of the North.

"Last time I saw him was this morning," Kwang replied, "he mentioned that he's going to research something."

Hyun-Ki sighed as he just collapsed back on his bed, "That guy is always busy with his research. Man, how come all the fun Emperors are out while I'm stuck with the boring one?"

Kwang replied sarcastically, "I'm honored by your praise, Master. Allow me to repay you back with your favorite meal, steamed warm broccoli with delicious roasted beets and lovely pea split soup."

Hyun-Ki gasped in horror, "You monster! You know I hate those!"

* * *

At the Duel Academia, the Principal and professors were having a meeting to decide who should represent the Duel Academia in their Friendship duel against the Duel Academia of North School.

Chronos stood up abruptly, "And why not? In the friendship duel against the Duel Academia of North School, we should select Signore Ryo Marufuji as our representative as we have previous years." He made a dramatic gesture toward Ryo who was also participating in the meeting.

"In this case, we've heard that the representative from the other side is a first year student." Principal Samejima explained.

"First-year student?" Chronos exclaimed.

Samejima continued, "And because of this, I feel we should also choose a first year as our representative." He averted his head toward Ryo, "What do you think, Marufuji-kun?"

"That's fine with me." Ryo answered.

Samejima looked back toward his fellow subordinates, "Then the issue now is who we will elect as our new representative."

Ryo closed his eyes, "Yuki Judai." He announced.

Chronos cringed dreadfully, _'Yuki?'_

Samejima glanced back at Ryo. Daitokuji smiled with his eyes closed as he remarked, "This has become a serious situation." He glanced down at Pharaoh, his pet cat, "Right, Pharaoh?"

Other professors were surprised to hear an Osiris Red student's name. They glanced at each other, wondering if the Kaiser is really serious.

"I'm sure he will show us a very interesting duel." Ryo claimed.

Samejima nodded in agreement, "I have no doubt about his capacity."

Chronos gritted his teeth, _'I hate this…! That drop-out boy is going to become the representative…! Is there anyone who can oppose him..?' _His eyes widened in realization and he grinned proudly, "Then I will elect Misawa Daichi!"

"That Ra Yellow?" Samejima asked.

Chronos climbed onto the meeting oval table and jumped into the hole to start walking, "Let's have them battle against each other, and the winner will become the representative, how's that?" He leaned over Samejima.

Samejima glanced at Ryo, "Is that okay, Marufuji-kun?"

* * *

"Hey, Dark Boy!" A voice snapped Kurai out of his deep thoughts. While Kurai was waiting with his back on the wall, he decided to close his eyes and reminisced in his old memories of himself and the other boy in his childhood. He pondered how that other boy was doing at Duel Academia. His thoughts were rudely interrupted as Jim was calling for him.

Kurai opened his eyes and glared coldly that translated as "What?" as he disliked being bothered.

Jim was unruffled by his glare as he continued speaking, "What did you guys do? I mean you must have activated every single trap here in this ruins and that destroyed lot of valuable stuff."

Kurai looked away and closed his eyes, "I'm not the one who did it. Blame the idiots who came here after me."

Jim laughed, "You mean the same people who followed you and saved your life?"

"Tch." Kurai grunted as he knew Jim was right. His so-called friends were idiots to him but truthfully, they did save his life when the ruins nearly collapsed on him. For that action, he certainly owns them his gratitude, not that he would show it to them any time soon. He looked toward Jim, "So you're telling me there's nothing valuable here?"

"Not particularly at the moment. If I have more time, I might have bigger chances of finding something. Excavating is like one big gamble. You think you got something but it turns out to be nothing." Jim remarked.

Kurai scoffed as he was greatly annoyed, "This is a complete waste of time."

"Out of curiosity, Dark Boy," Jim questioned, "Why do you think you need more "power"?" The whole reason why Kurai even bothered to lead Jim here to this ruins was that Jim offered to find information about the supposed rumor of a mysterious power hidden inside the ruins in exchange for Kurai being a guide to the ruins. Jim couldn't ask anyone else because he knew that going to the ruins could result expulsion from the Duel Academy and no duelist would want that.

Kurai narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean I think?"

Jim answered, "From what I heard about you, Dark Boy, you're pretty powerful yourself. You defeated a professor here at the Academy, a renegade duelist that defeated many top duelists, and former Pro Leaguer. You even caught the interest of the Dynast and the Emperor. So why would you need to rely on something superstitious like the rumor?"

Kurai was silent. His silence indicated that Kurai agreed with Jim. He knew he's strong and he's confident of his own skills. He didn't rely on luck and he certainly didn't need to rely on some superstitious power. However, "…I need it to defeat someone." Kurai answered honestly.

Jim blinked in surprise. He knew it had something to do with getting stronger. After all, who would not want power to become stronger? But he didn't expect Kurai to answer honestly, "You need it to beat someone? The Dynast, the guy you lost to?"

Kurai scowled at Jim for bringing up that sore memory. He quickly looked away and frowned, "No, it's not the Dynast. I could defeat him next time." He narrowed his eyes with determination, "No, I will beat him next time."

"Heh," Jim smirked, "Confident, aren't you? I like it." He then prodded, "But who is this someone that you wanted to beat so much?"

Kurai didn't answer again for few seconds. He thought hard if he should answer or not. He then replied, "It's none of your business." He answered coldly.

"Aww!" Jim fake-whimpered with a playful grin, "Now, you just made me even more curious."

"I'm quite curious too." A voice interjected. Both Kurai and Jim suddenly became alarmed as they looked toward the voice. They saw a dark-brown haired Obelisk Blue duelist with long black collared scarf.

"It's not a professor?" Jim was surprised to see another student but at the same time, he was relieved that it wasn't the teacher.

"Heh, no I'm not a professor. I'm Sung Min, 3rd Year Obelisk Blue." The duelist introduced himself with a carefree smile.

"Sung Min?" Jim repeated the duelist's name as he immediately recognized it, "You mean one of the Four Emperors?"

Sung Min smiled, "That's right. And you're Jim Crocodile Cook and Kurai Yuki."

Kurai narrowed his eyes as he was suspicious of him. So far, he already met two Emperors that worked under Hyun-Ki and Kurai was damn sure that they pretty much hate Kurai's guts. Now, he's meeting the third one. Naturally, Kurai felt that he should be aware of his motives.

Sung Min continued, "Your reputation precedes you. The number one 1st Year Ra Yellow and the unofficial number one 1st Year Osiris Red. I'm sure with your impeccable skills, you would probably be in Obelisk Blue."

Jim smirked proudly as he titled his hat upward, "You flattered me but somehow I don't think you're here for our autographs."

Sung Min smiled, "Heh, you're right about that."

"So why are you here?" Kurai demanded.

Sung Min chuckled, "The same reason why both of you are here. You're after the mysterious rumor about some incredible powers hidden inside here."

Kurai narrowed his eyes. He disliked the previous Emperors he met. He certainly didn't like this one now.

Jim chuckled, "Actually, I'm here for the excitement. I just wanna know what's buried here. Dark Boy here is the one whose after the power." He patted Kurai's shoulder.

Kurai's blood vein twitched as he looked back, "Shifting the blame to me?"

Jim laughed, "I wouldn't dare!" He averted his sight back to Sung Min, "So I bet you haven't found anything, huh?"

Sung Min nodded with his eyes closed, "You're right. I could not find anything useful here." He opened his eyes, "On this particular floor."

"On this floor?" Jim repeated. His eye widened in realization, "There's more?"

"Of course there is." Sung Min confirmed, "I didn't think the power would be hidden on the first floor. No, it would be much deeper than this, possibly at the very bottom of the depths."

Jim crossed his arms, "If that's true, I would have found a passage stairs already by now."

Sung Min smiled, "I don't underestimate your skills. I already knew you have some excavating experiences and a special class with Professor Hopkins."

Jim whistled, "You know a lot about me already, huh? And I thought Knight Boy was pretty scary with his know-it-all."

Sung Min continued, "Let me continue. There's a reason why you couldn't find a passage. According to my sources, all passageways that led to the deeper part of the ruins are all sealed and hidden."

"Sealed and hidden?" Jim deducted, "So you're saying that this rumored power is something so dangerous that it cannot be exposed to the outside world?"

"It's possible." Sung Min smiled, "It just confirmed that the ruins are hiding some secrets that maybe only Kaiba Corporation or Industrial Illusions would know. It might be related to the three Legendary Gods cards."

"The Three Legendary Gods cards.." Jim repeated as his eye widened in amazement. Kurai was now intrigued. Who wouldn't be intrigued by the godly powers of the three sacred cards?

Kurai snapped out of his momentarily temptation and scoffed, "The three Legendary Gods cards belonged to the Duel King and they're lost forever."

Sung Min chuckled as he found Kurai's statement amusing, "That's true, they are lost but what if Pegasus made more than just the three Legendary God cards?"

Kurai suddenly became interested but he quickly composed himself. He narrowed his eyes coldly, "Are you saying there's some God cards hidden in this ruins?"

"I'm not sure." Sung Min replied casually with a smile.

Kurai's forehead vein twitched as he was deeply annoyed with that answer, "Then what's with the run-around?"

Sung Min chuckled, "It's just a theory. I'm not even sure that Pegasus created more cards that are like the God cards."

"You're lying," Jim accused, "You seemed to know more than what you're showing."

Sung Min smiled, "Is that so?" He laughed, "You're right. I do know more but that's Kyon Corporation's trademark secret."

"Keeping secrets from us, huh?" Jim remarked, "Does that mean you want the power all to yourself?"

"Of course not." Sung Min answered, "I'm one of the Four Emperors. My loyalty is to Master Hyun-Ki and the Kyon Corporation. Whatever I do is for the sake of expanding the power of my master. So therefore…" He smiled knowingly, "I wish to ask Kurai Yuki to lead me into the deeper part of the ruins."

Jim's eye widened in surprise. Kurai was surprised too but he narrowed his eyes quickly, "How do you know that?"

Sung Min smiled, "I have my sources. Your friends, Alexander and Ethan, are not the only ones who know everything."

Kurai scoffed, "If you're going after the power of the ruins, then why should I even bother guiding you? In case you forgot, I'm after it too."

Sung Min closed his eyes as he nodded in agreement, "That's true. You are after the same thing as me. In that case…" He smiled evilly, "Then I'll have to resort to threats."

Kurai's eyes widened slightly.

Sung Min smiled, "I can report you two to the professors and have you expelled from the Duel Academy."

Jim frowned, "Hey, now, that's not nice!" Karen then growled as she didn't like how this new stranger is threatening her master.

Kurai glared intensely, "What about you? You're in the same situation as us. I can report you too."

Sung Min agreed, "True. I'll be in trouble but I won't be expelled," He smiled with a twisted chuckle, "thanks to my connection as one of the Four Emperors."

Kurai gritted his teeth as he mentally cursed himself.

"But then that'll be too easy," Sung Min stopped smiling, "And Master Hyun-Ki won't like it if I expel Kurai Yuki off the island. He probably won't talk to me at all. I wouldn't like that." He smiled again, "Then how about this?"

Kurai slit his eyes, "How about what?"

"A duel." Sung Min suggested, "If you're the victor, I won't tell anyone about this. If I'm the victor, you'll have to guide me. How about that?" He smiled with a twisted grin.

"A duel, huh? What do you think, Dark Boy? You get to face one of the Emperors." Jim glanced at Kurai. He then blinked in confusion as Kurai was mumbling to himself.

Kurai had his eyes hidden in shadows as he was looking down. He grumbled, "I want to duel that stupid blind guy but that so-called Emperor of Chicken won't let me. So I hate him. There was all high and almighty girl with annoying justice attitude. The stupid Empress of the Pools that got beaten by that idiot. I hate her too. And now there's a really annoying wisecrack guy who think he's the Emperor of the Ruins…I hate you. I hate all of you." He then glared intensely, "I'm gonna beat the crap out of you when I win!"

Jim had a large drop of sweat, "Um wow…Dark Boy looked really pissed." Karen could only growl in agreement.

Sung Min laughed as he found Kurai's rage amusing, "This is gonna be a fun duel." He latched the duel disk to his arm and quickly put a deck inside.

Kurai glared furiously, "Let's see if you still think it's fun when I'm gonna stick your duel disk up your wise ass after I win!" He loaded the deck into his duel disk.

Both duelists faced each other and shouted at the same time, "Duel!"

**TBC**

**Author's note: **I hope you guys are still interested in this. If you are still interested, please leave a review. If there isn't any, then I would announce this story to be discontinued.


	40. 21B: The Scholar of the North

**Author's Note: **Someone please kill me now. Why is it always the duel part that took me the longest? I kept telling to myself. SHORTEN THE DAMN DUEL! If you look at a regular GX episode, a duel would only average 6 to 10 turns. I seriously need to shorten it! Sorry for the late update. I was so busy with the finals and then the length of this chapter. I seriously need to write shorter. Sorry for the rant and thanks for all the reviews! Please keep it up as the reviews are my fire!

**Author's Note 2: **I updated the bios with new face shot pictures of Kurai and Tsubaki. Izumi and Alexander are added too. They all have colors! So take a chance to look at them in my profile and tell me what you think! Also, if you really like the drawings, look up **KingdomBlade**'s Deviant Art page. He's super awesome artist friend who drew all these characters! Take a chance to look up his arts and comment on them.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh GX! Credits go to GLL99 for subs of GX episode 22.

* * *

**Episode 21: The Scholar of the North Part B**

Kurai appeared on the television screen with E-Merc Aquatic Priestess behind him. Also, there was the usual Yugioh GX logo on the bottom right corner of the screen.

Kurai didn't look at the screen.

A large drop of sweat slid down the narrator's head as he felt extremely nervous of Kurai's silence. He broke the silence, "Um…you don't like my choice of monster for the eye-catcher?"

Kurai remained silent.

More drops of sweat slid down as the narrator gulped, "Um…it's E-Merc Aquatic Priestess…I figured I pick the water mercenary since you're gonna be fighting…um…wait, if I reveal more, it'll spoil the story." He then realized, "Ohhh…I get what you're doing!" He pointed to Kurai dramatically, "You're trying to make me spoil the story! Well, it won't work!"

Kurai suddenly grabbed the narrator's neck.

"ACK!" The narrator gasped as his air passage was blocked.

Kurai brought his face closer to the narrator as he glared intensely with the death stare, "Just shut up and let me duel that stupid Emperor bastard." He narrowed his eyes into a slit, "Now." He growled the last word.

The narrator whimpered, "Okay! Okay! We'll start the duel soon! Just don't kill me!" He wailed with tears pouring out of his eyes.

* * *

"Why. Are. We. Here?" Tsubaki said each word slowly with growing annoyances. He and the gang were now at the underground arcade below the Duel Academy, the very place that only Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blues were allowed to enter.

"Why, obviously to look for Yuki." Alex smiled as he pointed out obviously.

Tsubaki's blood vein twitched on his forehead as he grew more annoyed. He frowned at Alex's sadistic-ness, "Do you seriously think that a no-fun always-serious-as-hell cold-hearted stiff bastard would actually be in the arcade? Seriously?"

Rad blinked as he typically didn't understand the situation, "Why not? I thought Yuki might wanna have fun!" He grinned proudly.

More blood veins twitched on Tsubaki's head as his anger reached the boiling point. He snapped, "The only one whose having fun right now is Izumi!" He pointed angrily to Izumi who was dancing on the Dance Dance Revolution Pad.

"Alright, I got a new score!" Izumi cheered happily.

"I wanna play too!" Rad exclaimed.

Tsubaki just stood there as he was astonished at his friends' lack of seriousness. He sighed as he gave up, "As much as I love to play those classic video games, I'm gonna take a rain check."

"Oh?" Alex averted his head to Tsubaki, "Where are you going?"

"Training." Tsubaki answered, "I still have a long way to go if I wanna catch up."

"Heh," Alex smiled with slight admiration, "You're certainly being diligent. It's nice to see that you're very passionate about your rival."

"I…I just wanna be stronger…and he's…like the epitome of strength…" Tsubaki replied honestly.

Alex smiled with his eyes opened slightly as he understood what Tsubaki meant, "Everyone wants to be stronger. It's only natural for any duelist. In your case, I think you're stronger than you thought."

Tsubaki scoffed, "I'm not too sure about that." He glanced back at the others competing on DDR, "Well, I'm gonna go train." He walked off. He then stopped and looked back, "Hey, Alex."

Alex smiled, "Yes, Tsubaki?"

Tsubaki frowned slightly, "Seriously, stop it with the gay jokes."

Alex smirked, "Took you long enough to notice."

"Oh, shut up." Tsubaki shrugged it off as he resumed walking.

* * *

Elsewhere on the island, inside the abandoned ruins, two duelists, Kurai and Sung Min, were about to start their duel.

"Hey, Dark Boy!" Jim shouted, "Be sure to keep your guard up! He's one of the Four Emperors!" He and his pet crocodile were the only bystanders of the duel.

Kurai growled, "I don't need your advice!" He was feeling anxious to beat the crap out of his opponent.

Jim whistled, "Testy, ain't he?" Karen scowled as she agreed with him.

Sung Min chuckled amusingly, "Why don't you go first, Kurai?" Kurai glared, "Oh sorry, I should be saying Yuki, huh? So how about it? Wanna go first?"

Kurai narrowed his eyes coldly, "You're not stupid, so don't act coy. Why are you so anxious for me to go first?"

"So that I can crush your defending monster." Sung Min replied honestly with a casual smile.

"What?" Kurai felt offended.

Sung Min continued, "You see, usually on the first turn, you can't attack, so you defend instead. I rather go second, so I can relish the opportunity to simply destroy my opponent's shield." He laughed.

Kurai's forehead vein twitched as he felt more irritated than before, "You go first!"

"Alright, if you insisted. Draw!" Sung Min drew the top card and he looked down at his hand. He chose one card, "I'll summon this cute fish, Nimble Sunfish [**M1 (2/1000/100)**] in defense." He placed a card on his duel disk horizontally. A small navy blue mambo fish leapt out into the field as it was water and floated above its respective position, "I'll end my turn."

"That's it?" Jim blinked in surprise, "After all that provoking you did, you summoned a fish?" He narrowed his eye, _'That guy…he's up to something…since he's one of the Four Emperors…he should be really strong…Dark Boy seriously need to keep his cool…but…' _He glanced at Kurai who was glaring intensely at Sung Min, _'That…might be a problem.'_

"Are you mocking me?" Kurai questioned with an angry tone.

"Of course not!" Sung Min answered with a carefree smile, "I may not look like it but I'm quite serious in everything."

Kurai scoffed, "Yeah, right. Draw!" He snatched the top card from his duel disk and added it to his hand. He grabbed one card and immediately played it, "I summon E-Merc Wood Elf Archer [**M2 (4/1400/1200)**] in attack mode!" He set the card vertically and suddenly, an elven ranger appeared on the field with his bow, "Skewer that fish!" The elf arched his bow and then aimed toward the floating fish. He released the arrow that pierced through the floating fish's frail defense, causing the sea creature to shatter like broken glass.

"My poor Nimble Sunfish." Sung Min quivered with fake tears, "You didn't have to be so cruel to her." He then smiled, "But I'm glad you did that."

Jim sweat-dropped at his reactions and remarked, "What's with the 180-degree change?"

Sung Min continued, "My Nimble Sunfish's effect activates when she get destroyed in battle." He discarded the card into the Graveyard slot, "I send one Fish-type monster from my Deck to the Graveyard," He took out his deck and chose one card, "The cute fish I'm sending to the grave is Friller Rabca." [**M3 (3/700/1500)**] He showed a card that contained a picture of moss-yellowed frilled shark and then placed it in the Graveyard slot.

'_Sending a fish-type monster to the graveyard from the deck?' _Jim observed, _'Is he trying to revive that monster…nah, it can't be…if he's trying to revive, he could have send a more powerful fish to the grave but he sent a rather weak one…what is he planning?'_

"The effect of Nimble Sunfish still continues," Sung Min explained as he browsed through his deck again. He selected a familiar card with smile, "I can special summon another cute Nimble Sunfish to the field." He quickly set it on the duel disk, summoning the second blue mambo fish on the field, "Naturally, I put it on a defense."

Kurai grunted as he grabbed another card from his hand, "It doesn't matter how many fishes you summoned, I'm gonna slice them all and turn them into sushi. I place one card face down!" He inserted one card in the M/T slots of his duel disk. A face down card then materialized behind the elf archer, "I end my turn."

Sung Min chuckled, "Temper. Temper. You should relax and enjoy life as it is. Draw!" He drew the next card, "I'm gonna do little extra. I summon Nimble Manta [**M4 (2/800/100)**] in defense." An adorable purple-eyed blue manta ray appeared on the field next to the mambo fish, "And here's something extra. I'll place two cards face down." Two face down cards appeared behind Sung Min's monsters. He smiled proudly, "I end my turn."

"Another Nimble monster?" Jim questioned, "I assumed that this monster has something to do with special summoning, right?"

Sung Min nodded, "Of course, that's one of the qualities of being Nimble monster. Another quality would be that they're so adorable, don't you think?"

"Well, Nimble monsters are cute critters." Jim agreed.

"Would you two stop wasting my time with stupid idle chattering?" Kurai glared intensely as he was feeling very impatient.

Sung Min laughed, "No one's stopping you from making your turn."

Kurai twitched, "Draw!" He grabbed the top card, _'I'm getting annoyed with Nimble monsters already.' _He played one card from his hand, "I play Polymerization to fuse E-Merc Wood Elf Archer with E-Merc Bolt Assassin!" [**M5 (4/1600/1000)**] Suddenly, lightning struck the field as the mercenary of lightning made its appearance. Both archer and assassin jumped up as they both disappeared into the swirling portal. Then there was a bright flash as an elf appeared in his black armor decorated with blue lightning, "To fusion-summon E-Merc Lightning Huntsman!" [**M6 (6/2200/1700)**]

Sung Min watched with amazement, "Fusion-summon! That's incredible." He then moaned, "Pity, I didn't stop you from using your trump card earlier. Your reputation of insane luck precedes you."

"Stop me from using my trump card?" Kurai narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"That's right." Sung Min confirmed, "You see, I planned to use this trap card." He pressed a button to reveal one of his face down trap card that showed a picture of a fisherman reigning in a fish with a colorful lure, "Fisherman's Lure! [**T1**] This trap card allowed me to get one permanent trap card from my deck and put it on the top in exchange for sacrificing one fish on the field." He then sighed sadly, "It's such a shame that our time together is so brief." He then pointed toward one of his monsters, "The fish I chose as sacrifice is Nimble Manta!" The same colorful lure suddenly launched out of the trap card and pinned the manta. The hook line dragged the small creature in to the trap card and shattered, "The trap card I chose is Non-Fusion Area." [**T2**] Sung Min showed the chosen card from his deck with a picture of dimensional nets restraining fusion portals all around.

Kurai was surprised to see that card. He narrowed his eyes angrily, "Don't tell me you purposely added that card to your deck just to counter me only."

Sung Min laughed, "Well, of course I did. Not lot of people uses fusions as much as you, so it's only natural that I put this card in my deck. I have to restrict your trump card after all."

Kurai glared, "You're getting really obnoxious."

Sung Min laughed more, "I'll take that as a compliment." He put the selected card on the top of the deck, "And of course, since my recently deceased monster is a Nimble, its wonderful effect activates. When Nimble Manta leaves the field by a card effect, I can special summon two Nimble Mantas from my deck." He grabbed two cards from his deck and placed them on the duel disks, allowing two small mantas to materialize on the field.

"Pretty impressive defense." Jim pointed out, "But you're not gonna win just by relying on defense."

Sung Min chuckled, "That's true but haven't you heard a saying? That a good defense is a best offense?"

"I thought I told you two not to waste my time with stupid chat." Kurai rudely interrupted, "And I'm not done with my turn!" He then declared, "My E-Merc Lightning Huntsman gets 200 ATK boost for each of your monster on the field!" The huntsman clenched his gloved fist as he summoned dark vines that grew from the ground and tangled the sea creatures, absorbing their strength, "Don't think that putting them in defense will protect your life points because Lightning Huntsman can attack them all and for each monster he destroys, he will do 300 damage to you!" [**E-Merc Lightning Huntsman: 2200 + 600 = 2800**]

"Woah," Jim watched in amazement since he never saw that fusion before, _'That's pretty smart of him to summon a monster that can take advantage of Nimble monster's swarming effect.'_ He complimented, "Not bad, Dark Boy!"

"I must agree." Sung Min nodded, "That's an impressive monster but unfortunately, it saddened me so much to see it go because I won't get to see him attack."

"Nani!" Kurai didn't like the sound of that.

"I activate my trap card," Sung Min revealed his last face down card that revealed an artwork of mechanical remoras launching like missiles from the sea, "Fish Depth Charge. [**T3**] For this card to activate, I'll need to sacrifice a fish-type monster." He closed his eyes, "Alas, I have to say farewell for the second time to the same monster. Return to the sea, my cute Nimble Manta." The manta disappeared into specks of light that were replaced by remora missiles, "I can now destroy one card on the field and of course, you know which card I want to destroy."

Kurai just growled in response as he knew what Sung Min picked.

"The card I chose to destroy is your lovely fusion monster." Sung Min pointed to the huntsman as the missiles suddenly launched on his signal. The fish-like missiles collided with the poor elf with powerful blast of water explosion that splashed everyone with a light sprinkle, "That was a nice splash, don't you think? Not only that my trap card destroyed any card, it allows me to draw a new card." He picked the top card from the deck. He smiled as he revealed the drawn card, "Look what we have here. It's Non-Fusion Area trap card."

"Damn, that doesn't look good." Jim commented.

Kurai could only growl bitterly as he disliked the way that the duel was going. He then continued, "I'm still not done with my main phase." He grabbed one card from his hand and set it on the duel disk, "I summon E-Merc Flame Beserker!" [**M7 (3/1200/900)**] There was a burst of flames on Kurai's field as an orange-skinned warrior with a large broadsword appeared on the field, "Flame Beserker! Attack that ray with Blazing Slash!" The fiery soldier drawn his sword and charged across the field. He swung his flaming sword and sliced the manta in half, leaving the carcasses to shatter into digital bits, "I also place one card face down and turn end." Another face down card appeared next to his first one.

"Oh right," Sung Min realized, "You still have normal summon. Hmm, I wonder why you didn't attack the Nimble Sunfish instead?"

Kurai scoffed, "Do you think I'm stupid? If I attack that stupid fish, you'll just summon another one. I knew by killing the ray, you can't summon another one."

"Heh, that's true," Sung Min just smiled with a relaxed face and that just irritated Kurai, "Draw." He grabbed another card from the deck, "I place one card face down." He took one card from his hand and inserted it into the M/T slot. He smiled with his eyes closed, "I wonder what face down card I put down this time? I'll tell you a secret, it's a trap card."

Kurai roared, "Will you shut up?"

"Come on, Dark Boy." Jim reassured, "You're losing your cool. He's just trying to get you riled up!"

"Hmm, was it something I said?" Sung Min asked and then apologized, "Forgive me. I tend to say something that make people often angry at me. Eun Mi did say I need to fix that habit."

"Really?" Jim noticed, "I wonder if you're doing this on purpose or something?"

Sung Min smiled, "Doing what on purpose?"

Jim narrowed his eye, "Making your opponent lose their cool, so they can mess up their duel."

Sung Min just smiled for few seconds. He then finally answered smugly, "Well, is it working?"

Jim's eye widened. He turned toward Kurai to warn him, "Heard that, Dark Boy? He's just trying…"

Kurai roared back at Jim, "Shut the hell up! Don't even interfere!" He twisted his head back to Sung Min with the most intense death glare he mustered. People could tell from his eyes that he seriously wanted to kill this Emperor duelist.

Jim gulped as he felt afraid of the Osiris Red's death glare. He sighed, "I completely lost him."

Sung Min smiled, "Seemed like it's already effective. Allow me to move on." He grabbed another card from his Hand, "I'll have to avenge all three of my adorable mantas. I think I'll summon another manta. I summon Creeping Doom Manta." [**M8 (3/1300/1200)**] There was a large splash on the field as a larger manta jumped out of the field and floated on Sung Min's side, "When this lovely manta is summoned, you can't activate those trap cards of your." He smiled confidently.

Kurai could only scowl as he watched the adult manta swam around in circle until it reached Kurai's side and encaged the face-down cards in bubbles. It swam back to Sung Min's side where the owner patted it to thank the monster.

"Since you mercifully spared my Nimble Sunfish, allow it to pay you back." Sung Min switched the mambo fish into attack mode, "Now, let's conduct the battle phase, should we?" He ordered, "Creeping Doom Manta, attack the mercenary with Aqua Glide!" The manta suddenly swam forward with deadly speed. The fire mercenary brought up his sword to counter. Before the beserker get to swing his sword, the manta glided past the mercenary. Its sharp fin sliced the poor warrior in half, "Nimble Sunfish, Bubble Blast!" The mambo only swam forward a little as it took a deep breath. It then spat out a quick steam of bubbles that popped in contact with Kurai, damaging his life points.

**Kurai: 4000 – 100 – 1000 = 2900. Sung Min: 4000. **

Sung Min smiled happily, "I dealt the first damage, how about that?" Kurai just growled in response, "Heh, not too happy about that?"

The Osiris Red didn't bother replying as he announced his turn, "Draw!" He took the top card and then played it right away, "I play Pot of Greed and draw two cards!" He grabbed two more cards from his deck. He smirked as he drew some good cards, "You just made a mistake."

"Oh?" Sung Min smiled with his eyes open expressing his desire to know, "Do tell me what mistake do I made?"

"By adding that stupid trap card to your deck," Kurai responded by slamming his card into the magic/trap slot and activated it, "Because I'm gonna obliterate with this card, Nobleman of Extermination!" [**S1**] His magic card contained a picture of a bulky knight wielding a giant sword with golden hilt, "This card allows me to remove a face-down card and any copies of it!" The same sword on the picture materialized above Sung Min's sole face down card. It then dropped down suddenly, stabbing the card.

"That's very effective move and lucky draw." Sung Min complimented, "If my Non-Fusion Area is the card on the Field, it would have work."

"What?" Kurai acted surprised. He then narrowed his eyes intensely, "Don't tell me it's not a trap card."

"Oh, but it is!" Sung Min revealed his face down card as it slid past the sword and showed picture of a beat-hunting trap device with rocket devices, "I chained your magic card with my Instant Magic card, Trap Booster." [**S2**] He continued, "I said it's a trap card." He pointed to the word "Trap" on his card, "I didn't say it was a real trap card."

Kurai cursed under his breath.

'…_it should have been obvious…,' _Jim thought to himself, _'The way that Turtle Guy kept purposely showing his card necessary to defeat Dark Boy, of course he wouldn't just put that card face down without protection…Dark Boy should have realize that if he's calm…but right now…he's just falling deeper and deeper into Turtle Boy's mental trap.'_

Sung Min chose one card from his hand and revealed another mold-colored shark card, "Look what I have here. A second Friller Rabca. I'll discard this cute shark for the cost." He sent the card to the Graveyard slot.

"Another Friller Rabca in the grave?" Jim noticed.

"And of course, the trap card I activated from my hand is…" Sung Min revealed a familiar trap card and placed it on his duel disk, "Non-Fusion Area!" Suddenly, the entire field was covered by network of lines that were to prevent from anyone using fusion, "So what are you going to do now without fusion? But then again…," Sung Min pointed out, "I doubt you can conduct any fusion with only two cards in your hand."

Kurai narrowed his eyes coldly, "Would you stop talking already? If you don't talk so much, we would be done!"

Sung Min chuckled as he closed his eyes, "You're right. We should be done by now with me as a victor."

"You're pissing me off!" Kurai complained, "You're not even playing seriously!"

"Oh?" Sung Min was surprised to hear that, "What make you say that?"

Jim was surprised to hear that, "Huh? What do you say? Are you telling me you're not even playing for real?"

"Hmm…" Sung Min thought hard and then answered, "I am but not really." He smiled, "You understand that?"

Jim had a tiny bead of sweat-drop, "…Um what?...Who would understand that?"

Sung Min chuckled amusingly and explained, "I am playing seriously with this deck but it's not my true deck, so I would say I'm not really playing seriously. I'm surprised that Yuki knew that." He narrowed his eyes, "Is that why you're so angry?"

Kurai scoffed, "Of course it is. You're just like that stupid guy, Hyun-Ki, who didn't even play seriously too. You're all the same. You think you're almighty and powerful, so you can have fun by giving handicaps. You're just looking for excuses in case you lose!"

Sung Min was silent as his smile dropped down. He was no longer smiling as he looked at Kurai with a cool gaze in his eyes, "I would not call Hyun-Ki stupid or dirty if that's what you're implying. If he was playing seriously, you would lose more than just a game, you little arrogant piece of crap."

Kurai's eyes widened slightly as he was surprised at Sung Min's change of attitude.

Jim was also surprised when he heard the scholar's voice no longer carried a hint of childishness, "Wow, the tables have turned. He's pissed off now."

Sung Min closed his eyes, "Honestly, I don't see why Hyun-Ki would be so interested in you. Your skills are rather lacking and your victories are pure luck. Logistically, I just can't see it."

"Psh.." Kurai smirked and then laughed out loud.

Jim had a tiny bead of sweat, "And now Dark Boy just lost it…at least, he's not angry now…I think."

Sung Min narrowed his eyes, "What is so hilarious?"

Kurai stopped laughing as he pointed to Sung Min dramatically, "You're jealous of me!"

Sung Min and Jim were suddenly silent as the entire atmosphere was all white. They both blinked in confusion as they couldn't believe their ears. Sung Min slowly swayed his head and asked with disbelief, "…say what?"

Kurai scoffed, "You heard me. Face it, you just wanna duel with me and tried to make me lose with some deck that doesn't present your true power. So you can rub it in to that guy's face and he'll praise you all you want. Let me tell you something, you stupid fanboy. If you wanna test me, use your real deck to even have a tiny chance of beating me because as if now." He smirked evilly, "I'm gonna bring hell to you now."

Sung Min narrowed his eyes as he was no longer smiling, "Big words for big boys."

* * *

Inside the Duel Academy, a certain hot headed Osiris Red was walking toward the dueling practice room. If he wanted, he could have practice at the dueling stadium but he knew better that the stadium was only reserved for important matches and audiences. He couldn't help but remember the feeling of dueling a powerful opponent for the first time on that arena while surrounded by audience. It was a thrilling feeling but it didn't even compare to the feeling of dueling a strong enemy. He walked into the practice room that was normally used for promotion tests or practices. He stopped walking as he heard familiar dueling sounds. Tsubaki glanced toward the sounds and saw a familiar girl training too, "Ah…you're…."

Eun Mi noticed Tsubaki and was surprised, "You? What are you doing here?"

Tsubaki countered, "I should be asking you the same thing!"

"What does it look like? Training, of course!" Eun Mi answered sarcastically. She looked back to her practice dueling zone as she crossed her arms, "After all, what do you expect I should do after I, an Obelisk Blue, lost to an Osiris Red?"

"Hey…" Tsubaki felt offended by the way she said his ranking, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"…Sorry…" Eun Mi apologized as she turned back to face him, "I didn't mean it like that. You are a good duelist despite the ranking. You did defeat me after all. My loss make me realize that I'm still immature compared to the others…so I'm training more to become stronger. What about you?"

"…Same as you," Tsubaki replied, "I came to become stronger too."

"Really?" Eun Mi was surprised, "I admit you need little work on your skills but I think you are plenty strong enough."

"Thanks…" Tsubaki appreciated the compliment, "But…if I wanna catch up to Yuki, I felt like I need to become stronger…I just have to."

Eun Mi could see the determination in his eyes. She knew very well what type of determination it is after facing many strong duelists in the past. She sighed as she complained, "Now, I'm jealous. This guy must be awesome if you and Lord Hyun-Ki admired him so much." She cursed, "Now I wanna duel him not only because I wanted to but for revenge for peeking on me!"

Tsubaki had a large sweat droplet slid on the back of his head, "You're still going on about that?" He thought to himself, _'Man…female grudges are scary…'_

"Alright, I decided!" Eun Mi announced.

"Decided…what?" Tsubaki asked.

Eun Mi then pointed dramatically to Tsubaki, "I, Eun Mi, the Blue Empress of the East, will personally train you!"

"Eh?" Tsubaki was surprised and then he realized, "Wait, what? Don't tell me this is the same training that Yumi put me through!"

* * *

"My turn is not over yet!" Kurai snatched one of two cards and slammed it on his duel disk, "I summon E-Merc Steel Cutter!" [**M9 (4/1900/1100)**] A loud booming sound of metals clanging echoed throughout the field as a black armored warrior suddenly landed on the field wielding his heavy axe, "I'll order him to attack Creeping Doom Manta! Steel Destruction!" The warrior of metal ran forward, making loud heavy sounds with each footstep. He then raised his axe high until suddenly, a mold-colored shark popped out of underground and tangled itself around the warrior, restraining his movement. Kurai was surprised, "What?"

"I activated my Friller Rabca's effect." Sung Min grabbed a familiar card from his duel disk and presented, "Remember him? I discarded two of these lovely creatures."

"What the hell it do?" Kurai demanded.

"When a fish-type monster of mine is attacked, I can remove Friller Rabca to stop that attack." Sung Min explained, "But that's not all it does."

The serpentine shark wrapped tighter as he restrained the warrior even more. [**E-Merc Steel Cutter: 1900 – 500 = 1400**]

Sung Min continued, "Your monster loses 500 ATK until the end of my turn." He chuckled, "What can you do now?"

Kurai scowled as he set the last card in his hand on the Duel Disk, "I place one card face down and I end my turn." The third face-down card materialized on Kurai's field next to the other two un-activated cards.

"It's very sad if that's all you can do. Draw!" Sung Min drew another card from his deck and he quickly played it right away, "I play Pot of Greed. I can now draw two cards." He drew two more cards and he quickly placed one card on his duel disk, "I can now special summon Big Jaws." [**M10 (3/1800/300)**] A pillar of water erupted from the ground and then crashed onto the field, revealing a blue shark with huge fearsome jaws and a sharp steel blade as a horn on the top, "Whenever I activate a normal spell card such as Pot of Greed, I can easily special summon this fearsome creature to the Field. But he's not the only fearsome creature I'm summoning." He selected another card from his hand, "I normal summon Metabo-Shark." [**M11 (4/1800/500)**] A much larger pillar of water erupted and landed on the field with a larger splash, matching the size of the new arrival. It was a large round and bulky shark with six pierced fins and chained pendants on its belly, "When Metabo-Shark is normal summoned, I can return two Fish-types from my Graveyard to my deck." He grabbed two cards from the discard pile, "The cards I chose are two Nimble Mantas. Remember those two cuties?" He chuckled as he put them back in his deck and shuffled them. As he returned his deck to his duel disk, Sung Min was smiling again as he was confident, "Look at this field. I have four monsters on my side and you only have one who will be eaten soon enough. I have enough attacks to wipe out your Life Points."

Kurai slit his eyes as he knew Sung Min was right but he knew it was not over yet.

"From the look of your eyes, it seemed to me that you don't believe that you're gonna lose," Sung Min noticed and smiled, "I guess you must be confident in your face down cards." He closed his eyes as his smile became twisted, "Too bad most of your trap cards relied on your monster being destroyed in battle."

Kurai narrowed his eyes even more as he knew that Sung Min was right about his face-down cards.

Sung Min smiled, "Too bad, I will not give you a chance to activate those cards by playing Cold Wave." [**S3**] He played the last card in his hand that contained a picture of dinosaurs being frozen, "Until the start of my next turn, we can't activate or set any spell or trap cards. It's an old card but it's very convenient."

"Wait a minute!" Jim interrupted, "I thought Cold Wave was banned?"

There was a long and tense silence. Kurai was about to complain but Sung Min quickly interjected, "Let's allow the narrator to explain."

The narrator blinked in confusion as he pointed to himself, "Me?" Kurai glared at him intensely, "Hey, don't look at me! This story was created before I knew Cold Wave was banned recently! Continue with the story!"

Kurai gritted his teeth, "Then I'll chain your Cold Wave with Emergency Provisions!" [**S4**] His face-down card was flipped face-up with a picture of soldier's emergency food, "By sending a magic/trap cards to the graveyard from the field, I can gain 1000 Life Points for each of them. I send all my face-down cards to the Graveyard!" His face-down cards suddenly shattered into sparkles of warm light that sprinkled on Kurai, giving him additional life energy.

**Kurai: 2900 + 2000 = 4900. Sung Min: 4000.**

"Trying to protect yourself by bolstering your Life Points? That's a smart move but it's not going to stop me!" Sung Min ordered, "Big Jaws! Eat his sole defense with Mega Crunch!" The shark bit repeatedly to make threatening clanging sounds of sharp metals clashing. It then jetted forward across the Field and opened its jaws wide. It snapped its mouth closed and bit the entire top half of the poor steel warrior, leaving the bottom half to dissolve along with the tangled shark, "Then I ordered my remaining monsters to direct attack your Life Points!" The mambo sunfish went first as it blew a beam of bubbles at Kurai. The manta went next as it soared across the field and slashed Kurai with its wing. The bulky shark came after the mantra and slammed Kurai with its giant body.

Kurai barely stood up after being squashed by a heavy monster. He gritted his teeth as he watched his Life Points dwindled fast.

**Kurai: 4900 – 400 – 1000 – 1300 – 1800 = 400. Sung Min: 4000.**

Jim whistled as he felt relieved that Kurai was still standing, "Man, that was close." He then commented, _'It's a good thing that he was about to use Emergency Provisions to boost his Life Points since his trap cards could not protect him during Cold Wave…Dark Boy is pretty good if he prepared for this assault.'_

"It was smart of you to use Emergency Provisions," Sung Min complimented, "Were you expecting me to render your face down cards useless?"

"Of course." Kurai replied coldly, "You're the kind of guy who would do that. That's why I put down Emergency Provisions in case."

"It's a smart move but we're in a quite situation where both of us have no hands." Sung Min pointed out, "The only difference between us is that my Field is quite full and your field is very bare." He chuckled, "Just what can you do in this drastic circumstance?"

'_He's right…it does seem kinda hopeless…' _Jim thought to himself as he knew that Kurai was going to have to rely on his draw, _'But…I don't think Dark Boy is gonna lose here…I can feel it in my guts.'_

"Shut up." Kurai countered, "I still have life points. It's not over yet! Draw!" He drew the top card. He quickly glanced at it and then revealed it right away, "When E-Merc Ice Monk [**M12 (3/1200/800)**] is the only card in my hand, I can special summon it!" He slammed the card on the duel disk to summon a thick glacier on the field. The glacier then exploded, revealing a muscular monk with ice blue skin and black karate clothes, "When Ice Monk is the only card on the Field, I can draw two cards!" He drew another two cards from his deck, _'With Cold Wave still in effect, I can't activate or set any cards…I'll need to bid my time…'_ He then played another card, "I then sacrifice E-Merc Ice Monk to normal summon E-Merc Radiant Knight!" [**M13 (6/2400/1800)**] The ice monk turned into a sphere of light that suddenly gave off a bright flash and revealed a silver armored green-haired knight with black halberd, "I'll end my turn."

Sung Min was surprised that Kurai managed to draw the card he needed, _'…How annoying…he seriously has the luck of a god...or maybe it's a luck of a devil?' _He asked, "You're not even going to attack?"

"Tch." Kurai scoffed, "And let my mercenary get weakened?" He narrowed his eyes, "I know you still have one more shark in the Graveyard waiting for me."

Sung Min chuckled, "You're right…You have good memory…Now I regret telling you about that second Friller Rabca I discarded."

Kurai retorted, "That's what you get for screwing me around."

Sung Min smirked, "Heh, but you do realize that I have four monsters on the Field. If I'm lucky as you, I might get to draw a high-level monster and finish off your Radiant Knight. If that's not enough, I can finish you off with direct attacks of my remaining monsters. So there's a possibility that you'll lose the next turn."

Kurai smirked, "Heh…" His eyes narrowed with cockiness, "Only if you're lucky as me."

Sung Min's smirk turned upside down as he hated Kurai's confidence, "Draw!" He snatched the top card and then glanced at it. He gritted his teeth, "Tch…" He then sighed, "I place all my monsters in defense and end my turn." All his monsters coiled up in defense.

"Heh," Kurai chuckled, "Turns out you don't have the same luck as me."

Sung Min narrowed his eyes, "Don't expect luck to save you next time."

"Of course not," Kurai replied coldly, "I'll be damned if I relied on luck all the time because unlike you, I have confidence in my own deck! Draw!" He drew the top card and quickly peeked at it, "And so far, it never fails me! I play Graceful Charity!" An angel showed up above Kurai and gave her blessings to him with sparkles of holy light, "I get to draw three cards and then discard two!" He snatched the top three cards and looked at them. He smirked proudly, "It seemed my deck hasn't given up just yet. I threw two cards!" He raised his duel disk up and slid two discarded cards into his Graveyard slot, "Then my E-Merc Shadow Sage's effect activates!" [**M13 (5/1600/1800)**]

"E-Merc Shadow Sage's effect activates?" Sung Min repeated with confusion on his face, "What on Earth are you talking…" He then realized, "The two cards you discarded with Graceful Charity."

"Bingo." Kurai affirmed as he grabbed a card from the Graveyard and showed it to Sung Min. At the same time, a transparent form of a pale-skinned black robed wizard appeared behind Kurai, "When my Shadow Sage get discarded to the Graveyard from my hand, I can special summon an E-Merc monster from my hand and coincidentally, I drew one thanks to Graceful Charity. I special summon E-Merc Force Vanquisher!" [**M14 (8/2200/2600)**] The transparent dark wizard smirked as he aimed his staff toward Kurai's field and created a summoning ritual circle. A large black and teal armored warrior rose from the circle with his mechanical claymore.

Sung Min couldn't believe his eyes as he witnessed his opponent's incredible luck. Two turns in a row, the Osiris Red get to summon two high-level monsters. Sung Min had many monsters on his Field but they were not strong enough to defeat Kurai who is barely an inch away from losing all his Life Points. He narrowed his eyes, "I'm starting to see where his true strength comes from."

"Heh, I remembered that you summoned those exact monsters from your last duel with that thief kid." Jim commented.

"Whatever," Kurai continued his turn, "When E-Merc Force Vanquisher is in face-up attack mode, all of your monsters lose 100 ATK for each star of their level! Gravity Pull!" The black knight stabbed his claymore to the ground as the orb located in the center of the weapon glowed. The blade then snapped open and the orb released a powerful resounding wave of gravity throughout the field. The sea monsters fell to the ground roughly as they were pulled down. [**Nimble Sunfish: 1000 – 200 = 800**; **Creeping Doom Mantra: 1300 -300 = 1000; Big Jaws: 1800 – 300 = 1500; Metabo-Shark: 1800 – 400 = 1400**]

"It probably doesn't matter since all of your monsters are in defense." Kurai then ordered, "I'm gonna destroy your small fry! Radiant Knight, attack Big Jaws with Radiance Pierce!" The silver knight held his halberd tightly as he went into charging position. He then dashed across the field and thrust his halberd through the shark, skewering its body into digital bits, "I'm surprised you didn't bother using your second Friller Rabca to stop me." He mentioned.

"I could have used it but I think I'll save it in case of a true emergency…" Sung Min answered, "…after all…you might turn the tide and I like to have insurance in case."

Kurai scoffed, "You'll regret it." He continued, "Force Vanquisher! Attack that shark with Gravity Drive!" The armored warrior held up his claymore in preparations to attack. He then slid across the field with the help of his gravitational power. As soon as he arrived in position, he swung his claymore and sliced the Metabo-Shark in precise halves, "When Force Vanquisher successfully attacked, he goes into defense mode." The vanquisher slid back into his starting position and stabbed the sword into the ground again. The orb reactivated and created a small circular shield around him, "I'm done."

"Alright! With two high-level monsters on the Field, Dark Boy might have a chance!" Jim clenched his fist from excitement.

"Draw!" Sung Min drew another card. He looked at it and smiled confidently, "Like I said before…don't expect luck to save you next time." He gestured toward his two remaining monsters on the field, "I sacrifice those two monsters!" His two fishes suddenly became whirlpools that merged together into a bigger whirlpool.

Jim's eye widened in surprise, "He's summoning a Lv. 7 or higher monster?"

Kurai slit his eyes cautiously. He knew that usually a two-tribute monster have high attack power that can wipe out his remaining Life Points by attacking his Radiant Knight. He gritted his teeth as he silently cursed himself.

Sung Min declared, "To summon Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth!" [**M15 (7/2800/2200)**] The entire field then rumbled as something big and powerful was coming this way to them. Suddenly, a fish head popped out of the huge whirlpool, surprising everyone except the owner of the monster. The giant fish slowly came out of the whirlpool, revealing its huge magnificent body with claw-like fins and sharp teeth. When it finally broke free of the whirlpool, it floated above the field with the entire body's shadow covering the entire field.

Jim gasped in excitement, "Woah! Incredible!" He couldn't deny his love for fossils or prehistoric creatures especially when he knew that Coelacanth was an extinct fish from 65 million years ago.

Sung Min smiled, "I'm glad that you love this monster. I recently acquired it for this deck." He then declared, "Now, I should proceed with the attack! I would love to chip away your Life Points but I'm aware of the threat that your Force Vanquisher impose upon my lovely king, so he'll have to perish first. King Coelacanth! Drown Force Vanquisher with Tide of the Ancients!" The royal fish's crown shone brightly as it summoned a tidal wave coming from Sung Min's side of the field. Kurai's eyes widened and he quickly braced himself as the wave suddenly crashed in front of him and completely wiped out the poor armored warrior.

Sung Min smiled, "Will your deck still save you now? Turn end."

Kurai gritted his teeth, "You seriously getting more annoying every turn." He clenched his fist, "Plus this duel is not over yet. So I won't give up not until your Life Points reaches Zero! Draw!" He drew another card, _'…this card…'_ He narrowed his eyes, _'I can't use this card now…but…if I drew this…then I'm gonna believe in it.'_ He placed all his cards into the M/T slots, "I set two cards face down and put Radiant Knight in defense." The silver knight crouched and held up his buckler in defense, "I end my turn!"

"So you're back on defense. Pity, you were doing so well a moment ago." Sung Min chuckled.

"Just shut up and draw already. I don't wanna waste any more time on you." Kurai hissed.

"It'll be faster if you surrender." Sung Min suggested.

Kurai glared intensely, "When Hell froze."

"Very well, then I'll make sure to thoroughly beat you. Draw!" Sung Min drew another card as he entered his seventh turn, "I set one card face-down," A face down card materialized next to his Non-Fusion Area card, "Then I discard my last card to activate Coelacanth's effect." He tossed his last card into the Graveyard.

Jim watched with anticipation, "What kind of effect does it have?"

Sung Min chuckled, "Let's say, it's an interesting swarming effect." He explained, "By discarding one card as a cost, I can special summon up to four Lv. 4 or less Fish-type monsters from my deck." The giant fish's golden crown glowed brightly as it created echoes throughout the field. Four familiar sharks answered the king's call as they swam into the field from the outside, "And the four monsters I chose to summon are two Big Jaws and two Metabo-Sharks. They sought revenge for their fallen comrades, you see." He chuckled.

"So basically, once you destroy my Radiant Knight, you're gonna attack me directly with those sharks?" Kurai asked coldly.

"Fortunately…for you…Nope." Sung Min answered.

"…what do you mean by that?" Kurai asked.

Sung Min explained, "Any monsters that are special-summoned by the Coelacanth get their effects negated and cannot declare an attack."

"Then what's the point of summoning them?" Jim questioned.

Sung Min chuckled, "Well, there are many ways that can take advantage of this swarming effect. One, for example, is that when my Coelacanth gets targeted by spell, trap, or monster's effect, I can sacrifice one Fish-type monster on the field to negate that effect but that's only one method of many. Anyhow, I'll begin battle! Coelacanth! Destroy Radiant Knight with the Tides of the Ancient!" The whale-like fish gave a loud shrill as it summoned a huge tidal wave again and struck Kurai's field the second time, destroying the poor knight, "Turn end." He closed his eyes.

"I thought you're gonna thoroughly beat me?" Kurai repeated mockingly.

"Oh…I will." Sung Min smiled.

Kurai didn't like the look of his smile. It instantly made him aware of that new face-down card that Obelisk Blue recently set. However even if he was cautious, he still have to continue the duel, "Draw!" He was about to grab the top card.

"Trap card activates!" Sung Min shouted as his face-down card suddenly flipped up. It was an old classic trap card with picture of a man signing the treaty, "I activate Ceasefire!" [**T4**]

Jim's eye widened in shock as he instantly recognized the old card, "That card?"

Kurai slit his eyes as he knew the card too since it was one of the older cards released years ago.

Sung Min chuckled, "It seemed that both of you know what this card does. For the sake of duel etiquette, I'll explain what it does. First, it flips all face-down monsters face-up with their effects negated but none of us have that. The second effect…" He smirked, "Dealt 500 damage to my opponent for each effect monster on the field."

"There's five of them on the Field," Jim pointed out, "That means 2500 damage to Dark Boy!"

"Like I said…thoroughly beat you." Sung Min gestured toward Kurai as his trap card glowed and instantly fired a large beam that jetted across the field. Suddenly, it was deflected by a black barrier. Sung Min's eyes widened in surprise, "What?...That barrier…When did Yami Kuriboh [**M16 (1/300/200)**] goes into the graveyard?" He demanded.

Kurai replied casually, "With Graceful Charity, duh. I discarded "two" cards. One was Shadow Sage and the other is Yami Kuriboh. It's combo that always save my ass every time."

Jim laughed, "That's true! It saved your life in that duel against the thief awhile ago."

Kurai scowled at Jim for bringing it up. He then removed the card from the Graveyard, "By removing Yami Kurbioh, I can reduce battle or effect damage to zero. Obviously, I chose effect damage! I told you…I have confidence in my deck! Draw!" He pulled the top card and quickly glanced at it, "I activate both of my face-down cards! First, I activate Mercenary Rule #1: Five Rights!" [**T5**] His card flipped up and revealed a picture of a Battle City Duel Disk on the top and Duel Academy Duel Disk on the bottom with cards flying all over, "With this card, I remove a total of five cards from your and my Graveyards! The cards I chose to remove are Nimble Manta, Nimble Sunfish, Big Jaws, Metabo-Shark, and Friller Rabca!" Five cards were tossed from Sung Min's graveyard slot, "So much for having your insurance."

Sung Min had no choice but to remove them from his Duel Disk. He cursed slightly, "Tch, I shouldn't have tell you about that card."

Kurai continued, "Then my second trap card, Prayers of White Hail!" [**T6**] His trap card revealed an art of Ice Monk standing in the background with his arms crossed and Aquatic Priestess crouching in prayer in front of him with the raging blizzard all over, "This card only works when I have a Lv. 4 or lower Water E-Merc type in the Graveyard and when it does. Let's just say, it has the same effect as Cold Wave except it only restricted to my opponent!"

Sung Min's eyes size increased in shock as suddenly, a blizzard raged over his side and his Non-Fusion Area was completely encased in ice. He composed himself, "…what do you hope to accomplish by sealing Non-Fusion Area for only this turn when you only have one card left?"

"Luck," Kurai smirked, "I'm gonna try my luck again. I play The Warrior Returning Alive!" [**S5**] His card consisted of a worn and beaten Troop Commander who was barely supporting himself with his sword, "I return Ice Monk into my hand!" He grabbed the card that was ejected from the Graveyard, "Now, let's try again, should we?" He mocked with confidence, "Since Ice Monk is the only card in my hand, I can special summon it!" Right on cue, the ice blue-skinned monk jumped to the field with finesse and expertise, "If Ice Monk is the only card on the Field, I can draw two cards!" He grabbed the two cards and looked at them. He then smirked, "…Heh…it's been a while since I seen this card….and it's just perfect for this duel."

Sung Min's eyes wavered, _'Don't tell me…he drew a tide-turning cards again!…How can his luck be so impeccable?'_

"I summon E-Merc Aquatic Priestess!" [**M17 (3/800/1200)**] Kurai slammed the card on his Duel Disk and summoned a pillar of water that revealed a water-skinned priestess with scaled chest armor and flowing gown, "Finally, the last card in my hand! The Cerulean Temple of Frozen Waters!" [**S6**] His new spell card revealed a beautiful picture of a light blue temple that was shaped like an intricate seashell that stood atop of the frozen lake surrounded by crystal trees.

"Is…that supposed to be a Field card?" Sung Min questioned as he never saw that card in his research.

"It might as well be but it's not." Kurai answered, "This is the headquarters of the guild dedicated to water mercenaries or in this case, a fellowship. If you notice the job classes of my water mercenaries, you can see why this place fits them."

"…A monk and a priestess…" Sung Min pointed out, "Let me guess…it's a special card that only activated for them?"

"Precisely and a powerful card it is!" Kurai declared, "This card only activated when there's E-Merc Aqua Priestess and E-Merc Ice Monk on the Field! Their prayers in their home base allow me to draw two cards and that's not all! I can draw additional card for each Water-Type Monster on the Field except my mercenaries!"

Sung Min's eyes widened tremendously as he was in a huge shock.

Jim blinked, "Extra card for each Water monster? Dark Boy already get to draw two…and with extra…he gets to draw seven cards?"

"I guess I should thank your king for his swarming ability." Kurai chuckled in mocking tone, "He was quite generous with his gifts." He drew seven cards and he smirked confidently, "And what excellent gifts they are."

Sung Min's eyes wavered as he couldn't believe his ears, "You don't mean…they're all tide-turning cards?"

"I play my favorite trump cards, Advanced Fusion Evolution!" [**S7**] Kurai played his first card of the new cards he drew. The card materialized on the Field with a picture of typical polymerization except there were cracks all over as it was overloading with power of fusion, "By removing one Polymerization from the Graveyard, I can fuse two monsters in my Graveyard!" His Duel Disk then ejected three cards and Kurai quickly put them away in his pocket, "From the Graveyard, I fuse E-Merc Force Vanquisher!" A gravity sphere appeared and then exploded as it brought back the black armored claymore wielding warrior, "E-Merc Shadow Sage!" A swarm of bats gathered on the field and merged together into a black-robed wizard, "To Fusion Summon E-Merc Sinner of Dark Hollow!" [**M18 (8/2200/1800)**] Both warriors jumped into the fusion portal that transformed into large gate with chains. The gate doors opened and a black hooded prisoner walked out with a heavy iron ball, "When Sinner is summoned, his power wipes out all monsters on the Field. Sinner of Dark Hollow, destroys them all." He clicked his fingers as the prisoner was freed from his handcuffs. The prisoner's eyes then flashed under his hood as he gathered tremendous powers into his tattoos glowing all over his body. He roared loudly as his power erupted and consumed the entire field with an explosion of black aura.

Sung Min braced the powerful waves until it finally receded. He gasped as his entire Field including Kurai's field was empty.

Kurai continued, "It's still my turn. I'm not gonna let their sacrifices go to a waste. I play Dark Factory of Mass Production!" [**S8] **His picture card revealed a Goblin of Greed assembling Mokey Mokey on the assembly line, "I can add two Normal Monsters from the Graveyard to my Hand and two normal monsters that I chose are E-Merc Bolt Assassin and E-Merc Flame Beserker." He grabbed two cards from the Graveyard slot and added them to his hand, "Then I play Fusion Sage!" His next card revealed an old sage studying the power of fusion, "This card allows me to get my second Polymerization from the deck!" His deck ejected a card and Kurai quickly grabbed it and played it right away, "I use Polymerization Card to fuse E-Merc Bolt Assassin with E-Merc Stone Guarder!" [**M19 (4/800/2000)**] Both lightning and rock mercenaries appeared on the field for only a split second before fusing together and brought forth a huge lightning that revealed a gigantic purple-armored warrior with a horned cross helmet and two thrusters on his back, "To summon E-Merc Thunder Titan!" [**M20 (6/2500/1400)**]

"That's incredible! Dark Boy is making a serious comeback." Jim grinned as he was enjoying this match.

"I'm still not done yet!" Kurai declared as he played another spell card with a picture of an orange demon leaving the soaring Polymerization card, "I play Fusion Recovery! I bring back Polymerization and E-Merc Wood Elf Archer from the Grave to my hand!" His Duel Disk ejected more cards again. Kurai grabbed them and played one right away, "I play Polymerization again but this time with E-Merc Flame Berserker and E-Merc Tempest Lady!" [**M21 (3/1000/1000)**] The red-skinned warrior landed on the field roughly and the winged woman gently floated on the field, "To summon E-Merc Blazing Windman!" [**M22 (6/2100/1200)**] Two warriors combined into a fiery tornado that blazed on the field. It then vanished and left sparks behind to reveal the Osiris Red's favorite warrior donned in orange skin with a hawk's beak on his blue left arm.

Sung Min's eyes quavered as he knew what was about to happen next. He couldn't believe in his eyes. In only one turn, Kurai managed to change the situation into his tide completely. He was so close to defeating the cocky Osiris Red and his life points were full. However, Sung Min knew very well that the combined direct attacks were more than enough to wipe out his life points. He muttered, "Just…unbelievable…"

Kurai shouted, "Blazing Windman! Thunder Titan! Attack him directly with Red Lightning!" The titan gathered all the electricity into his back, allowing the center orb in his armor to glow brightly. He cupped his hands around the orb and shot a huge beam of lightning. The winged warrior flew high into the sky and quickly opened its hawk's beaks to gather fire. When it gathered enough fire, it fired a huge blast fire that formed into a burning hawk. The fiery bird dived into the beam of lightning that caused it to split into multiple red lightning that scorched across the ground toward the Obelisk Blue. Sung Min screamed as the lightning shocked and burned him at the same time.

**Kurai: 400. Sung Min: 4000 – 2500 – 2100 = 0.**

"Alright, Dark Boy, you did it!" Jim congratulated as he rushed up to him.

Kurai scoffed, "Naturally."

"Kuri! Kuri!" Yami Kuriboh chirped as he suddenly popped out behind Kurai to congratulate him too.

Kurai's left eye suddenly twitched as he heard a familiar annoying sound. He scowled as he looked back, "I told you to stay away."

Jim blinked, "Who you're talking to, Dark Boy?"

Sung Min just stood there as he still couldn't believe he lost. He sighed, "If I used my Black Turtle deck, I would have won…Pity…" His eyes widened as he noticed a floating furry creature behind Kurai, _'That's…I see…no wonder why he was able to win…' _He chuckled to himself, _'The spirits chose him…I should have know that I didn't even stand a chance against him…He's the man who was chosen by destiny...'_ He secretly smiled to himself as he admitted to himself that he enjoyed his duel and walked away before anyone noticed him.

Jim was praising Kurai for his lucky draws until Karen growled and caught his attention, "Hmm? What's wrong, Karen?" He then noticed that someone else was not here, "Hey…where did that Black Emperor go?"

Kurai mocked, "Probably went off crying to his master. I knew he wasn't dueling with his real deck…"

Jim interjected, "Because he didn't use any "Star" monsters like the Blue Empress did, huh? Too bad, I wanna see that secret monster of his…but I'm happy! I get to see a cool ancient fish!"

Kurai looked at Jim annoyingly, "Fish is fish."

"Oh come on," Jim laughed, "You just don't appreciate the finer beauty of nature!" He then remembered, "By the way, Fish Boy mentioned the deeper part of the ruin. Is that true?"

Kurai stifled slightly as he was amused with Jim's choice of nickname for Sung Min. He then looked away, "Yeah."

"Man, Dark Boy," Jim complained, "You're hiding things from me. I wanna see too!"

Kurai sighed annoyingly, "I wasn't hiding on purpose…beside…" He walked away.

"Dark Boy?" Jim was confused by his action. He noticed that Kurai wasn't answering and decided to just follow him along with Karen.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Duel Academia, the duel between Judai of Osiris Red and Misawa of Ra Yellow was coming to a conclusion.

"Cyclone Boomerang's effect activates!" Judai explained, "When the equipped monster and this card are sent to the Graveyard, it destroys all Magic and Trap cards on the field and for each of them, it deals 500 points of damage to the opposing player!"

Misawa gasped as the Spirit Barrier suddenly shattered above him and the rain of shards took away his remaining life points. The duel was over and the victor was quite clear.

Ryo commented with a small smile, "Judai Yuki can't be measured with calculations, can he?" He then walked away, feeling content as he enjoyed watching the duel.

Asuka also commented, "It's like he has that kind of unexpected power in him…" She was interrupted by a familiar yell.

"He did it!" Kousuke (Gerard in dub) cheered, "That's the way, Judai! I can't believe he won!" He quickly stopped cheering when he realized what he did. He sighed as he composed himself, "I lost, huh?" He walked away.

"Isn't that…" Asuka instantly recognized the shifty reporter and chased after him.

Chronos sniffled, "Oh…that's impossible-no ne…" He sulked into the floor as he couldn't handle the loss.

Principal Samejima stood up and announced, "The winner, from Osiris Red, is Judai Yuki!" He looked at Judai, "Congratulations. You are our Duel Academia's representative."

Judai smiled proudly as his friends ran up to him.

Sho congratulated, "You did it, big bro!"

"Congrats." Hayato praised. Judai just laughed as he rubbed his hair.

"I lost." Misawa caught heir attention as he walked up to Judai and his friends, "I'll have to do some more calculations from scratch. I'm going to make an eighth deck that'll surpass you one day."

"Yeah," Judai exclaimed as he couldn't hide his excitement, "I'll be looking forward to it! Gotcha!" He did his signature pose.

"That sure was a fun duel." Misawa offered his hand.

Judai was surprised by his action. He then smiled, "Hey!" He slapped his hand and then shook it right away.

* * *

Deeper into the ruins of the South Duel Academy, after quite some while, Kurai led Jim into a huge hole where there was no bottom in sight.

"You wanna go to the deeper part? Go here." Kurai pointed out.

Jim whistled in amazement as he stared right down the hole, "That's pretty deep hole there." He grabbed a small rock and tossed it in the hole. It took a while before he heard a sound of a rock hitting the ground, "That's really deep. How in Earth did you get down here?"

"I fell." Kurai replied bluntly as he crossed his arms.

Jim blinked in amazement, "And you survived?"

Kurai sighed, "By pure luck. Plus…the last time I left this place, it was falling apart. So I can't guarantee you that it's there anymore."

Jim looked back down, "Man, what would I do for a chance to explore this?" He frowned as he put his hand under his chin, "Should I get a rope ladder? But even if I did get a rope ladder, we won't even have time or the professor is gonna realize we're missing."

"Or maybe he already realized you're missing." A third voice spoke.

Kurai and Jim suddenly became alert and quickly looked back toward the owner of the voice. It was Professor Gabriel, the Headmaster of the Obelisk Blue Boys Dorm. There wasn't much emotion on Gabe's face but the teenagers could tell that he was cross.

Jim chuckled nervously as he tipped his own hat down to hide the shame, "Heh, I guess we're busted."

Kurai cursed, "Damnit."

**TBC**

* * *

**Next Episode Preview!**

**Rad: **That was just SWEET! The battle between fishes and fishermen! It was awesome! I wish I could have seen it!

**Shizuka sweatdrop: **Fisherman?...I think Yuki-san might hurt you if you say that to him.

**Rad: **But I wonder if we're gonna see the Black Emperor guy again? I wanna see his secret weapon! I bet it's gonna be even bigger fish!

**Shizuka sweatdrop even more: **Um no…I'm pretty sure it would be a black turtle or something similar.

**Rad: **Ahhhh! Now I really want to duel!

**Shizuka: **But you are dueling.

**Rad: **Eh?

**Shizuka: **You're gonna be dueling in the next episode against Jim Crocodile.

**Next Episode – Episode 22 – Jim vs. Rad! Who will be the Representative?**

**Rad: **AWESOME! Finally, my chance to shine!

**Shizuka: **This is going to be the first time we're going to see Jim-san duel.

**Rad: **Guess what, Shizuka! You're also participating!

**Shizuka blinked: **Huh? Why am I involved?

* * *

**Card of the Day – Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth**

**Alexander: **Today's card of the day is Sung Min's trump card. It's quite a powerful card with incredible swarming effect if used in the right place.

**Tsubaki frowned: **But monsters that were special summoned by that fish won't get to attack, what's the point then?

**Alexander: **Heh, like Sung Min said, there are many ways to use that effect to your advantage. I can only imagine that it would be very deadly with Synchro Summoning.

**Tsubaki: **Synchro….what? Huh?

**Alexander: **Opps…did I accidentally spill a new method of summoning that will exist in the far far future that will involve motorcycles?

**Tsubaki: **Huh? HUH? What new method of summoning? And what about motorcycles?

**Alexander: **I'll have to quickly change the subject. Ah, I know. Hey, Tsubaki, do you know if you collect the crown of King Coelacanth, you'll be granted eternal riches.

**Tsubaki: **What? Seriously? I GOTTA CATCH THAT FISH! **::he ran off::**

**Alexander smiled: **It's good thing that he's so simple-minded.

* * *

**Cards used in Duel**

**M1 – Nimble Sunfish: Water/Fish/2/1000/100: **Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, send 1 Fish-Type monster from your Deck to the Graveyard. Then, you can Special Summon 1 "Nimble Sunfish" from your Deck.

**M2 - E-Merc Wood Elf Archer: Wind/Warrior/4/1400/1200**

**M3 – Friller Rabca: Water/Fish/3/700/1500: **Effect: When a face-up Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua-Type monster you control is targeted for an attack: You can banish this card from your Graveyard to target the attacking monster; negate the attack, and that target loses 500 ATK until your next End Phase. The effect of "Friller Rabca" can only be activated once per turn.

**M4 – Nimble Manta: Water/Fish/2/800/100: **Effect: When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard by a card effect: You can Special Summon any number of "Nimble Manta" from your Deck.

**M5 – E-Merc Bolt Assassin: Light/Warrior/4/1600/1000**

**M6 - ****E-Merc**** Lightning Huntsman: Light/Warrior – Fusion/6/2300/1700: [E-Merc Bolt Assassin] + [E-Merc Wood Elf Archer]:** Effect: This monster can attack each of your opponent's monsters once. When this monster attacks, it gains 200 ATK for each opponent's monster until the End Phase of your turn. For each monster this card destroys, inflict 300 damage to your opponent.

**M7 – E-Merc Flame Beserker: Fire/Warrior/3/1200/900**

**M8 – Creeping Doom Manta: Water/Fish/3/1300/1200: **Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned successfully, no Trap Cards can be activated.

**M9 – E-Merc Steel Cutter: Earth/Warrior/4/1900/1100: **Effect: You can only activate this effect during a Battle Step of your turn. Decrease the ATK of this card by 500 points, then during battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. This effect continues until the End Phase of the turn this effect is activated.

**M10 – Big Jaws: Water/Fish/3/1800/300: **Effect: During the turn you activated a Normal Spell Card, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. (Anime Effect)

**M11 – Metabo-Shark: Water/Fish/4/1800/500: **Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned, you can select and return 2 Fish-Type monsters from your Graveyard to your Deck.

**M12 - E-Merc Ice Monk: Water/Warrior/4/1200/800: **Effect: If this is the only card in your hand, you can Special Summon it. When this card is summoned, you can draw 2 cards if you control no other cards on the field.

**M13 - E-Merc Shadow Sage: Dark/Warrior/5/1600/1800**: Activate one of the following effects when this card is sent to the Graveyard:

- From the Deck: You can special summon a monster with (E-Merc) in its name except this one from your Graveyard.

- From the Hand: You can special summon a monster with (E-Merc) in its name from your Hand.

- From the Field: You can special summon two Lv. 4 or lower monsters with (E-Merc in its name from your Hand or your Graveyard.

**M14 - E-Merc Force Vanquisher: Dark/Warrior/7/2200/2600: **Effect: When this card is in face-up Attack Position, each face-up monster your opponent controls loses 100 ATK x its own Level. If this card attacks, it is changed to Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase. When this card is in face-up Defense position during your Draw Phase, you can add 1 "E-Merc" monster and 1 "Polymerization" from your Graveyard to your hand instead of conducting your normal draw.

**M15 – Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth – Water/Fish/7/2800/2200: **Effect: Once per turn, you can discard 1 card to Special Summon as many Level 4 or lower Fish-Type monsters as possible from your Deck. A monster Special Summoned by this effect cannot declare an attack and its effect(s) is negated while on the field. If this card is targeted by a Spell, Trap, or Effect Monster's effect, you can Tribute 1 other Fish-Type monster to negate the effect and destroy that card.

**M16 - Yami Kuriboh – Dark/Demon/1/300/200**: Effect: At any time, you can remove Yami Kuriboh from the Graveyard, to reduce Battle Damage or Effect Damage to zero till the End of the turn when this card was removed. You can only use this effect once per game.

**M17 - ****E-Merc Aquatic Priestess – Water/Warrior/4/800/1200: **Effect: Effect: If this card is the only card in your hand, you can Special Summon it in attack mode. When this card is successfully Normal Summoned, Special Summoned, or Reverse Summoned when it is the only card on your Field, your opponent must discard 2 cards at random. If your opponent discards a monster card, you may take on monster of the same level or lower from your Graveyard and add it to your hand.

**M18 - E-Merc Sinner of Dark Hollow – Dark/Warrior-Fusion/8/2200/1800: **[E-Merc Shadow Sage] + [E-Merc Force Vanquisher]: Effect: When this card is fusion-summoned, destroy all monsters on the Field. At start of your Main Phase, return this card, after the number of your standby phases that equal to the number of monsters including this card destroyed by this card's activation, to your Field.

**M19 - E-Merc Stone Guarder – Earth/Warrior/4/800/2000**

**M20 – E-Merc Thunder Titan – Light/Warrior – Fusion/6/2500/1400**: [E-Merc Bolt Assassin] + [E-Merc Stone Guarder]: Destroy 1 monster on your opponent's side of Field with DEF strength base lower than the ATK strength of this Monster. This effect can only be used once during your Main Phase.

**M21 – ****E-Merc**** Tempest Lady – Wind/Warrior/3/1000/1000**

**M22 – ****E-Merc**** Blazing Windman – Wind/Warrior – Fusion/6/2100/1200**: [E-Merc Flame Beserker] + [E-Merc Tempest Lady]: Effect: This card can only be special summoned by fusion summon. When this card destroys and sends a Monster to the graveyard in battle, do damage equal to the defense strength of the monster destroyed to your opponent.

**S1 – Nobleman of Extermination – Normal Spell: **Select, destroy, and remove from play 1 face-down Spell or Trap Card. If it was a Trap Card, both players must remove from play all copies of that card from their Decks.

**S2 – Trap Booster – Quick-Play Spell: **Discard 1 card. This turn, you can activate 1 Trap Card from your hand.

**S3 – Cold Wave – Normal Spell: **This card can only be activated at the start of your Main Phase 1. Until your next turn, you and your opponent cannot play or Set any Spell or Trap Cards.

**S4 – ****Emergency Provisions – Quick-play Spell: **Send any number of other Spell and Trap Cards you control to the Graveyard. Gain 1000 Life Points for each card sent.

**S5 - The Warrior Returning Alive – Normal Spell: **Select one Warrior-type monster in your graveyard and return it to your hand.

**S6 – The Cerulean Temple of Frozen Waters – Normal Spell: **This card can only be activated if you have two Lv. 4 or lower WATER "E-Merc" monsters on the Field. Draw two cards. Draw an additional card for each WATER monster on the Field except the two aforementioned cards above

**S7 - ****Advanced Fusion Evolution – Normal Spell**: You can only activate this card when you have "Polymerization" in the graveyard. If you have one Polymerization, remove that card and the Fusion Material monsters in the Graveyard from the game to fusion summon the monster in the graveyard regardless of any summoning requirements it have. If you have two Polymerization, remove them from the game and draw two cards. If you have three Polymerization, pick one magic card that can fuse monsters from your deck.

**S8 – Dark Factory of Mass Production – Normal Spell: **Target 2 Normal Monsters in your Graveyard; add those targets to your hand.

**T1 – Fisherman's Life – Normal Trap: **Tribute one Fish-Type monster on the field. Then, select one Continuous Trap card from your deck, shuffle your deck and place it on the top of your deck face up.

**T2 – Non-Fusion Area – Continuous Trap: **Neither player can Fusion Summon.

**T3 – Fish Depth Charge – Normal Trap: **Tribute 1 Fish-Type monster. Destroy 1 card on the field, and draw 1 card.

**T4 – Ceasefire – Normal Trap: **Flip all face-down Defense Position monsters face-up. Flip Effects are not activated at this time. Inflict 500 damage to your opponent for each face-up Effect Monster on the field.

**T5 – Mercenary's Rule #1: Five Rights – Normal Trap: **Select a total of 5 cards in either player's Graveyard and remove them from play.

**T6 – Prayers of White Hail – Normal Trap: **This card can only be activated if you have a Lv.4 or lower WATER "E-Merc" monster in your Graveyard. Until your next turn, continuous Spell or Trap cards are negated and your opponent cannot play or Set any Spell or Trap Cards.


End file.
